Taking Care
by Sunruner
Summary: AU Kagura's father killed her step-mother. Sesshoumaru's father privileged his step-brother. Now she's free to take care of her family and he's desperate to take care of himself: can they do it? Well they're damned-well gonna try. Discontinued.
1. Dead Beat Dad

**Not Strong Enough, Sad Inuyasha Playlist**

**Okay! Normally I hate AU's, but the Inuyasha fandom is filled with them so I figure, why not? However, I wanted to do mine differently.**

**For starters, I'm tired of the plot where Kagura's life sucks and Sesshoumaru sweeps in with his buckets of money and saves her. Yes, Kagura's canon life does suck, and yes, in an AU Sesshoumaru should have buckets of money, but there's going to be none of this sweeping in and punching people with hundred dollar bills. I also wanted to see how much canon I could tangle with despite tossing names out at random, and not wanting to re-tell the old story. I think I've managed a nice balance, but I'll let my reviewers decide.**

**And just to say it now, yes, I set the story in Tokyo.**

**Please enjoy my AU!**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Dead Beat Dad

This was going to change a lot of things. That was the only thing Kagura could think of as she sat there on the curb, holding the infant in her arms. It was cold out, winter, no snow but with enough chill in the air that there was frost on the neighbour's dead plants, her breath vaporous and white in the night air. The baby had stopped crying a minute ago, possibly asleep after all the excitement. He looked oblivious to all the light and the noise, tear-stained face smooth and relaxed in his sister's arms.

Her other brother was sitting next to her on the pavement, a white muscle shirt making his thin arms look even skinnier, his flat chest boney and white in the dark, black shorts and no shoes showing he'd been rudely awakened too. Fourteen years old, he had a big black mark on the side of his face from taking a tough blow, layers of gauze wrapped around his left arm from wrist to elbow, and another patch of white stuck to his face with medical tape. Hakudoshi shouldn't have interfered, the slashes from the knife were superficial, but they could have been so much worse. There was still blood on his hands, and some on his knees, the crimson running down one leg where he'd knelt inside the house.

Kanna's white head was resting on Kagura's shoulders, the quiet girl either asleep or pretending to be, her sister couldn't tell. Half-sister, actually. The three around her shared all their blood, but Kagura had had a different mother. Hers had run away from their father years ago, leaving her daughter behind with a roof over her head and food on the table. She'd had another brother, a little older, but he'd left with their mother. In total Naraku had had five children from two wives: three boys and two girls.

The second wife was dead tonight. Hakudoshi had tried to stop it from happening, he'd failed. Their father's second son had almost been killed tonight too. Kagura had tried to keep that from happening, she'd succeeded.

"Miss Onigumo?"

Yeah? She looked up slowly, too tired at this time of night to figure out what the officer's face looked like. Maybe he was a detective, maybe he was a grunt, maybe he was the guy that'd kicked down the front door of their house after Kagura called in the fight from Kanna and the baby's room. Maybe. She didn't know, and at this time of night she didn't care.

She'd been with Kanna and the baby, then she'd run out trying to keep her other half-brother from being killed. She probably should have just let it happen, not gotten in Naraku's rampaging way. Kagura didn't want to admit it, but she couldn't figure out whether she resented Hakudoshi or forgave him for making her stand between him and that bloody knife.

"We need you to come down to the station and make a statement."

Yeah. She could do that.

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><p><strong>IT'S SO SHORT, yes it is, which is why there will be days with double-updates: I will be updating every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.<strong>

**Why not just combine chapters? I actually wrote the first half of this story like that, but for stylistic reasons I want chapters that are written in the Present-Tense, and I want them separate. I've given this a lot of thought and I'm thinking about the project as a whole, not one in instalments. So click away! Next chapter _ahoy!_**


	2. Kagura, December 8th

**Written at the same time as Chapter 1, so same songlist.**

**Happy Canada Day!**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Kagura, December 8th

Child-services are there at the station when the siblings arrive in the back of the cruiser. There's shouting near one entrance and a fight breaks out between officers and the man in cuffs. When Kagura asks later she's told they got her father in a cell good and tight without any trouble... Well, the officer in blue doesn't _say_ _'Good and tight'_, but he's the sort of scrappy-looking guy with just a little bit of a pony-tail and sharp blue eyes that made you think, '_Yeah, he's never getting out of that cage'._ Toga or something, Kagura can't remember names.

But yeah, child-services. Hakudoshi almost starts another fight when the woman in the tweed suit tries to take the infant away from Kagura, but Kanna calms her big brother down. She reaches out and wraps her smothered-in-a-police-jacket arms around his waist and hugs her face against his stomach. Kanna doesn't talk a lot, she hardly ever speaks at all, but the kid is good at reading her brother; he calms down enough that Kagura is able to convince the one-eyed woman to let the three stay together.

Kagura has to come alone though, she understands that. Half-sister.

"Name?"

"Kagura... Kaze."

"Kaze?"

"Mother's name."

"Ah... And how old are you?"

"Twenty-one." Haku's fourteen, Kanna's eleven, the baby's six weeks. The same officer from before is in front of her and sitting next to a very doey-eyed young man who is probably only a few years older than Kagura herself. His hair is sort of a toffee brown, and looks sort of shiny in the harsh florescent lighting. Again, she can't remember his name after he says it, Hobo? But he looks nervous when she gives the baby's age a minute later, and he's glancing back at the large file folder at the cop's elbow as the man fills in his little worksheet. The room they're in is tiny, claustrophobic, and it has one of those fake mirrors set in one wall that probably has people standing behind it, like on TV.

"He's so young, was he crying a lot, maybe?" Hobo's asking if that's what set it off. Kagura stares at the pea-green wall for a few moments, her shoulders tense under the grey blanket one of the officers gave her back at the house. Her night-clothes really aren't the sort of thing you want to walk around in at night in a building full of men: a dirty white cami and small red shorts.

"She wasn't... losing the baby weight." If she was a little more awake, this conversation would be a lot harder. Kagura can't easily recall the last time she had to speak to the police, usually it's her step-mom who has to deal with them... But that's over. Kikyo's dead. "Money's been tight, he kept saying she was eating too much." Yeah, it sounds pretty sick to her too.

"We don't have a record of abuse." Toga says in an off-handed kinda way. "I mean we have a _record_ but-" The officer looks up from his little boxes and fill-in-the-blank squares, opening the big file folder and pulling out identical sheets with boxes and names and dates. "-your step-mom had two mis-carriages in between your two youngest siblings. Doctor's reports say-"

"Yeah, she was a real smart one." She's tired, she'd been tired when she got home from work and hungry with no dinner left when she crawled through the front door. She'd been tired when she heard the screams in the front of the house and climbed out of bed to check on the infant and to sit with Kanna. She'd been tired when she dialled the police and she heard footsteps. She'd been exhausted when she ran out to stop Hakudoshi before he could get himself killed like his mother when the knife came out. She is _tired_.

So Kagura doesn't want to think about the hospital visits, or being cornered by nurses, or any of that other stuff that had happened years ago. Because tonight something has happened that's different, and tonight is going to change things. So Kagura has to think about that instead.

"What do you want me to say?" She asks, and finds the child-services guy, Bojo, pulling out a tissue and handing it to her. Fuck him, she's crying but she doesn't need his pity. She takes the tissue though. "You have the reports, you know what was happening." They don't get it- well maybe the cop does, but the other one doesn't. So she explains.

"I stuck around because I had two little siblings who didn't know what was going on or what to do about it. I stayed quiet because _she_ wouldn't say anything, and if _I _said anything then _I'd_ get the crap for it." But she should have just run away from it, should have just picked up and ran off into the wind like her mother, free. But Kagura knows she couldn't have done that, because she remembers what it was like when her mother did it. She knows the feeling of having her heart ripped in two. One piece had vanished into the wind, leaving her empty and sad, and the other had settled neatly into her father's palm.

"Miss _Kaze..._" Yeah, what does the cop want now? She watches him set his pen down and fold his arms slowly, then gesture over the forms spread across the table. "We all basically know what happened here tonight. What Mister Hojo needs to know is what you intend to do. You have options."

"Options." She repeated, and the toffee-haired one speaks up quickly, getting in on the conversation with his sappy words and careful smile.

"We can set up a temporary placement for the baby and maybe his sister. Or we can keep the two older ones together in a home for a few months while the infant-" Fuck this!

"Woah, no." She's tired, she's exhausted, Kagura's scared and she's done for the day, but there is no way she's going to hear this. Ever. Sitting up and gesturing sharply with her hand, fuck this, no. "You're not splitting anyone up. You're not. I'm an adult, I'll take care of them." Bobo looks at her sadly.

"The older ones have school, that's understandable, but the baby-"

"I'll manage it." She cuts him off with her words, snatching the second tissue from his hand before it's properly offered to her, the first one damp and balled up tight in her fist. "Girls get pregnant at sixteen, I can handle this." She has five years on those bimbos anyways, she doesn't have illusions about going back and finishing high school, or becoming a doctor. She had to give up going to the dance studio before she even had the chance to get a proper membership.

"Is there any other family-?"

"_No_, just me, and I can do this." She can do this and she will. "If you lock that bastard up then I'll take care of the rest. I can do this." They just have to lock Naraku up and throw away the key. Keep that killer away, that wife-beater, that money-stealing blood-sucking abomination that still had the legal right to call himself her father. Without him around she'll be fine with the kids. If he's locked up then Kagura will be free: bills and payments and jobs and midnight feedings don't mean anything. She'll finally be free.

She'll sell the house. She knows it before they even let her out of that tiny room. She'll sell the house and she'll move them into a smaller apartment, someplace with cheap rent where the money from the sale will keep them living for as long as possible. There are food-banks for meals and coupons for what they can't get for free- Kanna knows coupons. Coupons are something the little girl and her mother always did together; go through the colourful flyers and clip all the big red and yellow numbers.

And there are women's shelters and charity groups, there are churches and shrines and sanctuaries. There are walk-in clinics and pro-bono lawyers. There are extra shifts she can start picking up and new jobs she can find.

She can do this, even if they spend the night in the police station while the cops go through the house for evidence. They sleep in the little waiting room on the vinyl seats surrounded by the 3-am murmur of officers and detectives working the red-eye shift. The infant sleeps in her lap and Hakudoshi has Kanna sleeping on his shoulder, his head in turn resting on Kagura, who can't move her arm enough to keep writing down estimates and guesses on the paper she stole from one of the desks. But she can do this.

With Naraku gone, Kagura can do this...

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><p><strong>Herp derp this is where chapter 1 originally ended. Combining chapters 1 and 2 gives you guys about 5 pages worth of content to read, which's still on the shorter side of things. Some chapters will be much longer and won't require a double-update like this one did.<strong>

**Read and review! Let me know what you think. Sesshoumaru comes in next chapter!**


	3. Paternal Paranoia

**Sad Inuyasha Playlist, Points of Authority (Remix), By Myself (Remix).**

**Chapters do get longer, I promise you, it's just these early ones that were rather short.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking <strong>__**Care**_

Paternal Paranoia

Tetseiga. It means iron-crusher, and is the appropriate name for the night-club located in what used to be a heavy industrial area down near the water. But that was years ago, and now the Tetseiga is positioned on a prized piece of Tokyo real-estate, with a water-front view on a rocky pacific beach that no longer stinks of industrial sewage and sulphur. The tankers that move out of the harbour provide a moving skyline under the more impressive lights of Tokyo herself, the perfect view for the upstairs patio.

The food is good, the alcohol pricy- but exquisite. The entire establishment is industrial in theme- rusted iron and corrugated steel under exposed air ducts and water pipes; but done with style to focus on the power of the metal. The ductile strength of will and mineral merge to form the chrome bar and stylized seating around the wide, multi-coloured dance floor. When the music is turned up full blast (as it usually is), the entire building literally throbs and pulses with energy.

Sesshoumaru Inu-Taishou could not walk into the Tetseiga without feeling a deep-seated and well-deserved flood of pride through his veins. Tetseiga was his inheritance from his father- a powerful business tycoon who, almost-unfortunately, lost nearly every scrap of his empire in a messy divorce with Sesshoumaru's mother. The tycoon had been on his way to earning it all back when he was killed in a violent car-crash with his second wife and son at hand, and so the Tetseiga fell into Sesshoumaru's hands.

_'And look what I've done with it.'_ Running his gold-green eyes over the polished chrome and glass of the bar he was standing behind, the tall man slipped one long-fingered hand out of the pocket of his black blazer. _'You were still struggling to gut the place, father, look at it now.'_ Look at what _he_ had done now.

The sky-lights from the patio above were filtering fresh winter sunlight down onto the floor, the blue back-splash across the walls made the large room feel like the bottom of a pool, heavy cables running back and forth across the ceiling to power all the sound and lighting equipment that drew in the crowds. It looked like a massive net spread over the dance-floor, and he could look up and watch his house DJ walking overhead on the second floor spread over the mixing booth. Every piece of metal was salvaged or purposefully aged to suit the building's style, chain-link and grate and cross-hatch patterns giving strength and character without enough rust to make things look worn down.

He loved this building.

"Oh my lord! Sesshoumaru-" Pulling his gaze away from the decorations around him, Sesshoumaru glanced down at the gasping voice charging in from the front doors. Jaken, a short man with jaundice eyes and lost inside a brown trench-coat, was scrambling across the acid-washed concrete floor and quickly slapped a narrow brief-case down on the tempered glass of the bar, tapping the short cane he used to help his leg. An easily frazzled man, an accountant, and, after his stroke, deeply religious in a way Sesshoumaru hardly tolerated; but he seemed unnaturally distressed today.

"What is it, Jaken?"

"My lord, my lord, I thought we were closing the doors tonight, and instead I see all the lights are on and the kitchens are fired up and- oh my lord, Sesshoumaru I just don't understand it I-"

"The doors are closed tonight, Jaken."

"Then my lord why on earth is everyone-" Clearly, he had not received an invitation.

"It is Inuyasha's birthday tonight, I've allowed his girlfriend and the staff to rent the building for the evening." The imp-like man squawked and looked at him with a slack-jaw. His concerns were clear; how had a day-care teacher come up with the money required to shut down the Tetseiga for a VIP event? "At a reduced rate, Jaken." He was, after-all, _family_.

Sesshoumaru was not required to _like_ his younger brother at all, but in the years following their father's death and Izayoi's poor and weakening health, the elder son had found himself repeatedly drawn into the younger's affairs. Everything from carrying Izayoi's heavier medical expenses to Inuyasha's half-hearted but successful attempts at obtaining a higher education could be traced back to the silver-haired man. He could either continue to resent and despise the half-breed's presence in his life, or learn to tolerate it in some passive manner. The fact that his meagre acceptance of Inuyasha's existence gave him the power to sign the younger man's cheques at the end of the month, control his salary, limit his vacations, and make any other arbitrary decisions to directly (and often negatively) impact his half-brother's life... was satisfying.

"Oh! Excuse me sir, but doesn't that mean that tonight is also..?" Jaken's high, raspy voice was not as great an annoyance as the terrible sound that garbled out of the building's sound-system. Sesshoumaru's burnished eyes turned instantly to the DJ booth where a sheepish Bankotsu was quickly adjusting sliders and controls to reign in the disturbing whinny. The DJ offered no words and only waved lamely in the direction of the bar, and Sesshoumaru reminded himself that the man was not expendable.

"It does." Looking back down at the accountant where Jaken's nervous hands were fiddling with the brass head of his cane, the two faces were rather ugly, but Sesshoumaru had no interest in how the man decorated himself: it was the numbers that mattered. The Tetseiga's owner, to his credit, was self-taught in most things. Inheriting the world at eighteen had not left him with much time for schooling.

"I'll be interested to know what's in that safe... But I'm sure you are too, sir!" Not especially. Standing with his hands in his pockets again as Jaken's jaundice-yellow eyes looked straight through the tinted red glass behind the bar. The frosted barrier was a thin wall that led into the back room: the younger man didn't follow the gaze.

The safe was in his office, where it had always been. Tacked onto the end of his father's last will and testament (the man had become a healthy mixture of prepared and paranoid after his divorce) was a note which included the safe combination and instructions not to open the box until his second son's twenty-first birthday. The will was filed inside his desk, and although Sesshoumaru had been curious for a few years, he had a strong tendency to forget about the black steel case set inside the office wall. He'd hung something more important over it: newspaper clippings documenting the Tetseiga's success.

"I want you to review the budgeted numbers for tonight, Jaken." He _had_ called the accountant in for a reason, and pulling the black folder off the shelf where he'd set, Sesshoumaru handed the rough numbers over. He'd grown tired of holding it while waiting and watching the preparations take place before him. He was confident in his estimates and abilities, down to the decimal, but having them reviewed by the accountant was still necessary. Only a fool ignored an expert's trained eye.

"Yes, sir. Shall I bring the numbers to you tomorrow?"

"This afternoon."

"Er- of course, sir!" And that was that.

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><p><strong>A note on Sesshoumaru's character in this story: is he true to canon? Absolutely not. Why? Because being an almost mute, completely solitary, constantly <em>rude<em> and utterly unlikable individual in the business world of today does not work. I could have come up with a situation in which he could remain true to canon, but I didn't want to write him as the solitary exec. of a massive corporation, or as a drug dealer who quite literally kills anyone who disturbs his temper: one is unbelievable and the other is too dark for my interests.**

**I also don't consider him a character who'd become OCD in the modern world and budget every minute of his time like a massive control freak. Canon!Sesshoumaru spends most of his time wandering aimlessly about the countryside looking for opponents to fight, so _this_ Sesshoumaru spends his time going around trying to make his investments profit. It's all subjective give-and-take, y'know?**

**Trust me, I know what I'm doing and you'll still be able to see the Sessh-chan we all know and love. **

**Now review, damn it! Next chapter needs a few hours to prep because my Monday is busy! It'll be up by no later than 4PST today.**


	4. Sesshoumaru, December 8th

**Written at the same time as Chapter 2 (now 3), same song-list.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Sesshoumaru: December 8th

The Tetseiga is far from full, but the crowd is what he would expect from most VIP events. His brother has a dedicated circle of friends, most of whom he met in his college years, and an assortment of lesser acquaintances who like to drink and spend money. There is his girlfriend Kagome, a pretty girl with blue-black hair and blue eyes, her clothing is often at odds with her personality. Someone as smothering as Kagome should be drowning in sweaters and pants, but Inuyasha's girlfriend is almost always seen in mini-skirts- Sesshoumaru doesn't know how she goes to work with young children while dressed like that, but it's fine for the pulsing environment of the club.

Then there is a young couple Sesshoumaru knows more by face than name; but he tolerates the woman quite easily. She is Kagome's best friend, while her boyfriend is Inuyasha's best friend, and the woman usually has a handle on her man's wandering hands- especially when they wander to women that are not her. Whenever Miroku comes to the Tetseiga alone the owner has to keep an eye on him in case he needs to be tossed for harassing female guests, but with Sango around there are no such worries tonight.

Bankotsu is donating his time tonight so Kagome will not have to pay him to pay the DJ. The dancers are off for the night but Jakotsu is still in attendance in a garish outfit that makes him- her? stand out. Despite being his boss Sesshoumaru still isn't sure about the dancer's gender most of the time. Renkotsu, the bald friend of the DJ and head dancer, could not manage to commandeer the building's pyrotechnical system without going through Sesshoumaru, but has been given to go ahead for one- and only _one_ round of fire-works to finish off the night. Mukotsu, as disturbing as the over-weight man can be in social situations, is a fine chef and the club owner does not mind allowing him to use the Tetseiga's kitchen to provide the night's food and deserts. Kagome was charged with providing the protein for the night, but Sesshoumaru permitted the chef to use the kitchen's stock of spices and veg to create the rest of the menu.

He does not necessarily _like_ his brother, but Sesshoumaru does expect to eat tonight.

Inuyasha's friend Koga, an off-duty officer in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police force, is in attendance with his two rookies whose names Sesshoumaru does not remember, but they dance like fools and entertain him. There are too many other people in the crowd who he doesn't know, but he doesn't want to get to know them either. They are Inuyasha's friends, not his.

Inuyasha's mother Izayoi is also in attendance. But she stays up on the heated patio with a few of her own friends and some of her late-husband's business associates. She keeps away from the loud music and pulsating lights, and the owner only steps outside into the evening air for pleasantries. He has no interest in playing host to his father's mistress-turned-second-wife-made-widow. Myoga, an investment partner, is amongst the older crowd, but the lawyer Totosai is curiously absent. Sesshoumaru's own mother is not here, and there's no reason for her to be.

Sesshoumaru does not dance but he does drink, aware that Inuyasha is neither bar-tending nor managing the floor and fulfilling neither of these roles himself in the younger man's absence: Sesshoumaru does not serve. The temp, Hachi, is doing his best to mix drinks with his clumsy hands and shy personality, the heavy man endearing to the guests who are all more or less familiar with one another, and forgiving as they enjoy their evening of dancing and drinking.

Eventually the cake is cut and Inuyasha is made to give a half-drunk speech from the DJ booth, kissing his girlfriend for the crowd's pleasure as Sesshoumaru slips into his office and waits for the rest of the party to die down. He goes over Jaken's numbers, examines inventory, compiles lists of names and numbers and meticulously keeps track of a few internet feeds so he knows who to call when which bands and mixers come through the city. The Thunder Brothers were a hit the last time they took over the stage...

"_Hey, bro!_" Having ignored Izayoi's shy leave-taking and not bothered with the rest of Inuyasha's friends as they depart, Sesshoumaru glances at the clock and sees that it says 2 am, as good a time as any for business. Sipping the scotch sitting on his wide metal desk, the older brother sits back in his chair as the younger one drags his tipsy girlfriend into the room and the two drop like dead weight onto the couch across the room from him. The music is stuck in a loop which means Bankotsu has left, there is no more movement outside the glass which means Hachi has slunk off home. Jaken and Myoga both look like they've been woken from a deep nap as they slink into the office and yawn about the late hour.

Mukotsu will be cleaning up and leaving if he hasn't already gone, and Jakotsu has probably gone home in the arms of a soon-to-be-humiliated rookie cop. This is likely everyone Sesshoumaru can expect for the event, and he opens his desk drawer to begin.

His father's will has spent seven years inside a clear plastic folder, the post-it-note with his signature still stuck to the bottom with the safe's combination. He removes the papers only after clearing his desk, handing them to Myoga where the balding man is standing in his yellow tweed jacket and long blue-grey old-man-pants, a pipe perpetually in his mouth. He needs spectacles to read the numbers and carefully unhooks the large frame on the wall that holds the Tetseiga's memorable moments. Sesshoumaru turns his chair enough so he can watch the old man fiddle with the spinning lock; one elbow on his desk and his face resting on his curled fingers.

"And here we go..." Inside the black box is only a single legal-sized envelope, the name _'Inuyasha'_ written on the front in what he imagines is his father's scrawling hand. Despite the address, Myoga undoes the red string holding the envelope closed and pulls out the document stuffed inside.

"Interesting, this looks like a Will." The old man mulls, speaking around the stem of his pipe as he sucks on the unlit tabbaco curiously. "Maybe we'll find out who was really supposed to get the chalet." A dry joke from the elder, one Sesshoumaru doesn't resent: aside from two pieces of property and a very general percentage of his father's wealth, nothing else was properly bequeathed to him or his father's second family. The original Will had only stipulated Sesshoumaru's inheritance and barred his mother from touching any of the assets.

"_I, Touga Taishou, of sound mind and in the presence of witnesses blahblahblah..._" There is no pressure for Myoga to read thoroughly, the elder skipping most of the legal jargon and out-right flipping to the proper meat of the document. It is too late for him to be concerned with propriety, even Sesshoumaru is beginning to feel the weight on his eyes as the music dies and the adrenaline of the party and work both fade out of his system. "I... Oh my..." He opens his eyes.

"Is something the matter?" Kagome's voice is light, but too bubbly thanks to the alcohol and she begins to giggle inappropriately. Myoga's face reads of shock, his pipe stem slipping past his teeth only to be unexpectedly caught by his thin lips.

"This... this is... I'm not sure what it means..."

"What, is it a confession or something?" Inuyasha unhelpfully provides, the elder brother lacking the presence of mind to even scold the inappropriate answer. "Like a third brother- shit, we'd better not have a sister!" _Idiot._

"Myoga, read it."

"I'd really rather not, sir..." As he speaks the tweed-wearing old man quickly starts fumbling with his hands, flipping back and forth through the long pages of the Will and restlessly scanning the words.

"Out with it, old man!" For once, the brothers are in agreement as Inuyasha whines from the couch. Sesshoumaru is tired, he would like to lock up and go home.

"I... I'll quote then." And the shaking man clears his throat. "_This document hereby over-rides my previous Will and Testament dated June 14th, 19xx, coming to legal fruition as of the signed date June 20th, 19xx, and intended to be read allowed and formally enforced come December 8th, 20xx, in the presence of my sons Sesshoumaru Inu-Taishou and Inuyasha Charleston-Taishou and their respective witnesses. Legal right, claim, and ownership of the Tetseiga- "The Iron-Crusher" Night-club, its physical and spiritual properties including any and all franchised locations is hereby passed from I, Touga Taishou, owner, operator and officiator of the above stated Tetseiga- "The Iron-Crusher" Night-club, to my younger son Inuyasha Charleston-Taishou._"

Silence, complete silence save for Myoga's strained breaths as the old man pulls a spotted kerchief from his jacket's inside pocket and begins rubbing and dabbing furiously at his sweating face. Sesshoumaru is tired, he was up early to settle numbers for the Tetseiga that morning, then had come to over-see preparations for his little brother's birthday party. It is 2-am, he has been drinking, lightly, and sounds are beginning to echo in his head. Sesshoumaru is tired.

"Is there more?"

"_Yes._" Myoga wheezes. Jaken slipped from the room and is back now with two deep glasses and no ice; a bottle of bourbon losing its lid as the accountant dumps two large portions. One is handed to Myoga, who quickly gulps down the liquor, and Jaken helps himself to the other. Sesshoumaru does not resent this: like his brother, he is watching Myoga.

"Read it."

"Please, I-" Myoga stops and finishes off the last of what was in his glass, then gestures for Jaken to come over to him. "You have legal training, don't you, Jaken?"

"Of course- some, I-" Contract and tax laws. Jaken is an accountant, he has a basic but practised knowledge of money and law.

"This can't be legal, not binding, read this bit here I-"

"_Myoga._" He is tired, his voice echoes loudly in his ears. Numbers are starting to bubble up in his mind and Sesshoumaru does not want to think about them right now. He does not want to think about the payments left to make on his condo, he does not want to think about the insurance payments on his car, he does not want to think about having seven years of sweat and labour and hard-won success taken away from him. He reaches for his glass and can't remember what he poured for himself earlier, but he drinks it all too fast and can't even feel it burn on the way down. He wants to know what the Will says. He wants to know what his father wanted.

"There must be a way in court, I mean it-"

"You can't take a _Will _to court!"

"_Myoga!_" The accountant and the business man both jump at his voice, which is too loud and causes Kagome to start crying where she is sitting next to her boyfriend on the couch. He does not know what she has to be upset about. He doesn't want to know. He doesn't care. He's losing. He's losing everything. He watches Jaken take the reigns from Myoga, something Jaken shouldn't be capable of, but those jaundice-yellow eyes come around and focus on him.

"Sesshoumaru, the Will also deals with your- your _father's_ second property, the Tensei-"

"Don't even mention that _money-pit_." A worthless building on worthless land that can barely-

"Mister Inu-Taishou- your ownership of the Tenseiga lot was conditional on your graduating from university." This- what? No- it-

"No."

"Sir-"

"No." He can't do this.

"Sesshoumaru-"

"_Shut up._" He can't do this. Inuyasha tries to stand up but the black command is enough to knock the younger man back down onto the couch. Sesshoumaru can't do this. Not tonight. Not tomorrow. Not yesterday. He can't do this.

He had been eighteen when his father died and the investments that paid for his lifestyle had fallen open into his lap like a weight. He had balanced his first year of university against the portfolio of stocks and numbers he had barely understood. He had required Jaken to walk him through and explain each facet and detail with only minor successes. He had tackled his second year with more a business-minded approach and learned a little, not a lot, before the Tetseiga had reared its head as a more imposing and impossible challenge to over-come. If the Tetseiga had failed like Tenseiga then the losses would have destroyed the other numbers in a cascade of taxation and imminent poverty.

Tetseiga had been more important than marks. He'd had to choose between his father's crumbling empire and a degree that would only land him a job working for somebody _else._ He'd chosen Tetseiga. He'd built Tetseiga. He'd run it, he'd lived off it, he'd let it live off him, it had been him, it _was_ him, it _is_ him.

He has made himself into the walls and the bar and the booths and the seats and the menu and the lighting and everything. His blood is in the wiring and piping and his flesh is served up in the kitchen and his breath comes out through the speakers. Tetseiga is _his._

But it isn't his at all. And Sesshoumaru can't do this. He can't go to court and argue that something, six days after it was given to him, seven years after he started building it, is still his in the end. His father wanted him to build something up and then give it to his little brother. His little, bastard, half-American _brother_. And that means it was never his to begin with. It was Inuyasha's.

Sesshoumaru has been played and he's lost the game, and he can't do this. He can't stand here (because he's standing now) and say it's okay and that he thinks Inuyasha will do an upstanding job. And he can't stand here, in this room, and tell his brother to get out and be shit-faced on someone else's couch. Because it's Inuyasha's couch. And he can't do this.

It's not the legality, which is what Myoga and Jaken are still babbling about.

It's the principle, which is what Inuyasha is staring at him, dumbfounded, trying to understand.

And Sesshoumaru can't do this.

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><p><strong>There. The pacing of this story admittedly got a little thrown off by changing two chapters into four, but I think by the time I have some more chapters posted it'll be more easily forgiven. If you've read both updates, drop a review!<strong>


	5. Adjustments Made

**By Myself (Remix), Sad Inuyasha Playlist.**

**About the sentence for Naraku, I did as much digging as a Fanfiction warrants and apparently Japan's pretty lax with the punishments for murders that aren't like bat-shit crazy serial killers (longest sentence I could find was 10 years, then it jumped to death penalty for the crazies). You and I know Naraku is a bat-shit crazy mass-murderer on the inside, but in the eyes of the justice system he's just an abusive dad who went too far in a rage and killed his wife.**

**And here, this is the sort of length you guys should be looking forward to. No double-update this time!**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Adjustments Made

Six months ago Kagura's father was arrested for murdering her step-mother. Five months ago he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 7 years in prison. It wasn't enough, it was a plea bargain that gave him the minimum for his crime, and it avoided a slow and costly trial, but it just wasn't enough. Kagura looked at her baby brother and knew he wouldn't even be Kanna's age before their father was back out in the world.

But it gave her a time-line. Seven years to make them safe.

Kagura hadn't known who owned the house when she decided to sell it, she didn't know what the numbers looked like. But after several sessions with a pro-bono lawyer who changed every time she went in, and consulting the library, and doing everything she could between work and looking after the infant and Kanna and Hakudoshi, she hit a tidbit of hope: it wasn't Naraku's. It had been Kikyo's.

Kagura should have remembered this, she should have remembered moving from one house to the one where her siblings had been born, but she'd been seven at the time so who cared? It was Kikyo's, and Kikyo had no family, just her children, and Kagura was their guardian- but that wasn't enough. She pleaded and she argued and she raged, but it just wasn't enough.

Kikyo was dead, and she had no family that Kagura knew of or could contact, so that meant the house would, eventually, belong to Hakudoshi. But Haku was only fourteen, and fourteen-year-olds are minors who can't inherit or manage property. Kikyo's assets, like the house, and whatever money happened to be in the bank in her name, were frozen. They could live in it, but they sure as hell couldn't sell it.

Kagura had no interest in living in that blood-soaked, nightmare-riddled coffin. She wasn't going to let her siblings grow up in that haunted house, just the few weeks they stayed there trying to figure out their next move turned into a blur of nightmares and crying. Hakudoshi couldn't go into the kitchen without starting to shake, Kanna wouldn't step into the living room, Kagura started using the back door instead of the front one the cops had burst in through.

So she couldn't sell the property, but the contents were fair game. Why keep a large sectional couch that she could sell for almost ten thousand yen, and buy another second-hand one for four thousand? Why keep a table that had knife marks in it? Why keep the rug that had been next to her step-mother's dead body? Or the coffee-table, or the old stereo, or the bookshelves?

They kept the clothes and the beds and the things the kids didn't associate with Naraku, or that made them think of Kikyo; pictures, sweaters, candle-holders, tea-cups, jewelry, some clothing. They kept pictures, they kept the vacuum and the cleaning chemicals in the bathroom, and the food from the fridge. When Kagura finally found a place for them to live in that wasn't that wretched house, she even sold the appliances in the kitchen and downstairs. If she could have found a buyer for the carpets and windows, she'd have ripped those out too.

They moved into an apartment that was small, only two bedrooms, and not in the best part of the city. She gave Kanna and Hakudoshi the bedrooms and Kagura slept in the living room on the old futon-couch she bought with the money from Naraku's sectional. The baby still had his bassinet, and he went to bed the TV went off and her siblings did their home-work. The apartment didn't come with a TV package, and Kagura crunched numbers and decided the DVD player was a better buy. You didn't have to sign a contract to watch movies you already owned.

The only thing they had worth stealing was Kikyo's jewelry- Kanna's jewelry, and Kagura hid the pieces: some went in a plastic bag in the toilet, others went in a box in the vent. The white coral hair-pins Kikyo had worn in her hair were put in Kanna's to wear, and Hakudoshi was given his mother's gold chain and one pair of her earrings to wear around his neck when his birthday came around in March. The three of them debated throwing Kikyo's wedding and engagement rings into the river for her, but Kagura couldn't throw gold away. She pawned the rings and they had Wacdonald's for dinner on Kikyo's birthday.

She hid the jewelry because Kagura couldn't afford to find a safer place to live. She filled out all the forms and paperwork that Hojo guy wanted and that, miraculously, gave her a cheque in the mail every month from the government. It wasn't welfare; Kagura was working, she had two jobs that made an okay amount when put together. It was money for things like baby formulae, and diapers, cash that let her drop the infant off at daycare so Kagura could actually go to her job. Her job paid for things like rent, and food and power.

The baby was small and not as healthy as he should have been, he was her biggest challenge. He went to a daycare in the morning and early afternoon before Kanna got home from elementary school, then Kagura had to trust an eleven-year-old girl to stay home alone for the two hours before Hakudoshi got back from middle school, usually with the infant in tow because the daycare services ended at five. After that, she had to pray that a fifteen-year-old boy could handle a baby brother and a little sister until Kagura got home at seven. She'd try to cook, they'd eat, then the kids do their homework once the baby went to sleep and everyone fell into bed after that. She wore her cell-phone out checking it so many times a day in case either of them called her.

Rent was covered by Kagura's retail job in a cute little urban outlet in the mall. She worked evenings, weekends, afternoons and mornings: whenever she could get a shift, she was there. Other expenses were handled by her job at the sandwich shop, and occasionally by scheduling a few less hours at the daycare so Kagura could cover life's little surprises.

Like the medical bills when Kanna got caught out in freezing rain that winter and came home with a terrible shiver and cough that spread to the infant. The family's little endemic had forced Kagura to take a few days off work for both the kids and her own health. She lost one of her jobs for it, but fuck him: she didn't need his sandwich-making-shit. And the new clothes that Hakudoshi needed that spring weren't too much to ask for, Kagura just wished it hadn't been the school that informed that he'd completely out-grown his uniform. The same thing happened to Kanna, and then the infant started crawling.

She didn't know how banking worked, but felt stupid when she finally went to the teller instead of the machine and the woman decided to inform her they were saving absolutely nothing and this was not a good thing. Kagura hadn't had much to reply with as the woman kneaded the story out of her in parts, and then a few more forms were placed in front of her. What was this inheritance law thing? Education funds?

It was a stretch for Kagura's very tight purse strings, but a handful of change every pay-cheque, and a few extra visits to the food-bank so she could make the contributions made her feel like she was accoplishing something. Two accounts were set up for Kanna and the infant: Hakudoshi was going to inherit a (small) chunk of money from his mother, but the bank was interested in it or something so there would be more of it by the time he came of age? Whatever, Kikyo's accounts were frozen just like the house, which Haku would also eventually own, so he was fine: she put money aside except for when she absolutely couldn't, so eventually, maybe, there would be money for Kanna and the infant.

She managed to get them a TV package though, once she got a small salary bump from the retail job she worked. And she got another job, and after six months of living a Naraku-free life, Kagura got something else.

She got home late, like, a good five hours late. She was late because she'd made the mistake of letting it slip to her co-workers that it was her birthday, so they'd dragged her to the mall food-court for a meal she'd forgotten to feel guilty about eating. And then she'd flirted with a cute guy who was about her age, and Kagura'd forgotten everything until he asked for her number. She'd opened her phone to fetch it and just saw Hakudoshi's name on the screen, five times over.

Five missed fucking calls.

The apartment was on fire. The baby was dead. Naraku was in the house. Kanna was missing. Aliens had landed. It could be anything, it could be five-fucking-anythings, and she'd been stupid and she'd ignored her phone so she didn't know and she just- just- _fuck_. She left her co-workers and the guy standing there and booked it out of the mall, hating herself for talking about stupid things- like shoes. Or that new movie with whats-his-face, or that book by so-and-so. Who the hell had time for shoes and movies and books?

"Haku, pick up, it's me." No answer on the cell, no answer on Kanna's cell, no answer on Haku's phone again- there was no land-line. No answer, no answer all the way home in the dark looking up at the building as she ran up to it.

No aliens on the roof, okay. No fire, good. When she got inside there was no damage to the door- no Naraku. The door was locked- it was twelve o'clock at night. Kagura took another five minutes to get her make-up explosion under control, emptying her purse of tissues as she got her puffy eyes down and removed enough of her mascara that it didn't look like she'd been punched in the face or dressed like a raccoon. Stupid tears, she could get through this.

When the apartment was quiet that door made a shit-load of noise. Kagura wanted to yell at it but that wouldn't fix anything, so she just squeezed her way in once it was half-open and shut it as quietly as she could. The entrance, kitchen, and living room were all really one room, with a short hall to the bathroom and bedrooms, and grey, repeatedly-stained carpet and white walls decorating the space. The TV stood on an older moving box and the open futon was messed with Kagura's bedding, but nothing was knocked over so no, they hadn't been robbed either.

The TV was on but the baby was laying in his almost-too-small crib, the pictures flashing away on mute. Kanna was sleeping, laying with her back against Hakudoshi's slumbering chest, the two of them on their sides. Kagura looked into the crib and saw two violet-grey eyes looking up at her curiously, smiling as she picked the infant up and held the toddler to her shoulder, rubbing his back. She picked up a corner of one blanket and pulled it over her other siblings, then shut the TV off with her foot.

When she turned and saw their _'kitchen'_ Kagura almost shrieked, but held it in. She just felt her red-brown eyes grow four sizes as they were assaulted with the sight of what was probably _every_ dish, pot, and pan they owned stacked in the sink and on the messy counters- everything covered in bits of rice and brown stuff. Wait- was that chocolate? Holy shit, was that chocolate on the _ceiling?_

"What... were you three up to?" Too tired, relieved, curious and pissed to come up with a reaction, Kagura stood there, stumped before giving the baby in her arms an accusing look. He met this with something Kagura could only describe as infantile indignation, but it was sleepy glare. As she watched him the tiny child in her arms yawned widely and then pushed his face against her white work-shirt, the one she always wore at the clothing store and had forgotten to take off when she ran home.

After a bit of poking around in the mess, Kagura found what they'd been up to and pursed her lips tightly. Her red eyes felt itchy but she stiffened her jaw and swallowed the lump in her throat. What looked like four lumps of over-cooked rice mixed with a goopey chocolate mixture were sitting on the last almost-clean plate in the apartment, two cards with her name on them (and a third that just had pen and pencil squiggles on it, she assumed from the infant) were propped up next to the botched desert, and Kagura picked all three up as she slowly sat down on the kitchen floor.

Kanna's card had a little pocket mirror taped to the inside under her name and a happy birthday, a few flowers drawn along the inside. She recognized the mirror, it had been from an old make-up set that had broken years ago, but Kanna'd always kept that little round mirror with her after the fact. Kagura settled the infant in her lap and he pawed at the shiny surface for a bit, Kagura pulling it off the card and handing it to him to examine. And chew on. He liked chewing on things.

Hakudoshi's card had just her name on it, no drawings or anything, but taped inside was a card and a brochure. The gym? Removing the card revealed instructions her brother had written on the inside.

_One month's free dance classes._ Liar, they weren't free! She checked the brochure and saw all the price boxes scratched out in the same pen he'd used to write the card!

But...

_'Dance classes...'_ How did he... remember that? Kagura hadn't been able to dance since- well, best not to got there. _'This's why he's been asking for money recently... He wanted to pay for this.'_ She'd given him money because, technically, in the bank, there _was_ money. Kagura just didn't want to use it unless they had to. And they had already argued, and argued _loudly_ about whether or not he could quit school and start working- Kagura'd crushed that idea and then ground it into the floor under her heel. They were getting money from the government every month because Hakudoshi, Kanna and the baby were obviously not adults and Kagura couldn't do it alone. How would it look if he suddenly dropped out? Not good. If he wanted money then fine, he could have a (very) small allowance.

So this was... she didn't expect this.

_'Tomorrow's Saturday...'_ Lessons were four times a week, but one of those days was Saturday. That's what the brochure said. Kagura was about to say something down at the infant when she found his violet head hanging forward as a sign of deep sleep. _'Tomorrow... I can go dancing...'_ Could she? Saturdays she was supposed to spend with- yes. She could go dancing. Tomorrow, Kagura _would_ go dancing.

'_But first...'_ The kitchen floor wasn't so bad. It hurt a little, too hard on her back and shoulder, but the infant was already asleep and she'd run too much for her legs to want to push her back up again. _'Sleep...'_ Sleep right here, on the floor, because she could handle this.

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><p>The infant had to come with her, there was just no getting around it. Besides, Hakudoshi wanted to go out on his own and Kagura didn't see a reason to begrudge him that, and Kanna got three calls on her cell from a friend named Shiori before Kagura finally got the girl to give her the phone so she could talk to Shiori's mom.<p>

"Birthday party? I didn't even know about it- yeah, of course she can come. Where do you live?" After the phone-call Kanna said something that really made Kagura flinch inside.

"There's no money, Kagura." No money to buy her friend a birthday gift. The walk down to the store got this out of Kanna, and as they walked through the mall on a Saturday morning, Kagura knelt in front of her sister- the infant oblivious in his stroller.

"You let me worry about the money, 'kay? And we'll get you some new shoes while we're here, yours are too tight again."

"Your shoes have holes-" Shut up, kid!

"My shoes cost too much." Sticking her tongue out as Kanna pointed at the worn-out pair of black converse' clinging to her feet, Kagura stood back up in her grey track-pants and white teeshirt, her jean jacket a bit dated but in that almost-fashionable kind of way. Haku always got new clothes first, because he was growing and being in middle school sucked. Kanna got new clothes next, then Kagura, and then the infant wore whatever was clean because he was a baby and he couldn't complain.

Shopping done and Kanna dropped off at her friend's house for cake and play-time, a car would've been great but Kanna used the stroller as an excuse to work out her arms, jogging with the toddler babbling and laughing at the fast pace. Yeah, sister-powered stroller: the only way to travel.

_'Yes!'_ The centre where the classes were taking place had a children's play area, and even if the hourly fee wasn't covered by her birthday card, the infant's eyes went wide looking at the brightly coloured blocks and toys, and Kagura was thankful to have someplace to leave him. It was fine when she had Kanna and Hakudoshi with her; the three were obviously siblings, and Kagura wasn't old enough to be their mother, but just the baby? Alone? With her?

"You're a life-saver."

"What a cute baby you have!" Brother, baby _brother_, but Kagura didn't bother getting into the argument, watching the woman with her blue-black hair and turquoise eyes pick the kicking toddler out of his stroller; lavender eyes still glued on those blocks. "How old is he?"

"Eight months, he looks a lot like his mom." There, take that you mini-skirt-wearing- wait, why was a day-care worker wearing a mini-skirt?

"His mom-?" Yeah, you think about that. The woman's face was clearly confused, then lit up with an expressive '_Oh!_'. Maybe this just brought Kagura into the realm of aunt or cousin, but did she _look_ like she'd had a baby? "I'm Kagome, by the way. He'll be waiting right here when you're done with your work-out."

"Thanks, Kagome." Filling in the little form thing with its boxes and squares as they spoke briefly, she handed the form in and the woman's blue eyes scanned the information. Allergies, contact info, _relation_, all there.

"Oh! You're in the dance class today?" Yeah? "You're in for a treat, Jakotsu's a _riot._" Oh, okay. That sounded good.

"Right, thanks again." And now to sign in, get changed, and-

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><p>Holy shit.<p>

"Alright, _ladies!"_ Riot indeed. "We're gonna start off with something _nice_ and _slow,_ everybody good so far?" Sequins. Red sequins. _So many red sequins._ Kagura wasn't sure what to expect the all of ten minutes after sign-in when she found herself standing in a dance studio for the first time in well over a year. The bright lights were warm on her arms and exposed tummy and back, the faux-wood springy and smooth under her feet, wall-length mirror reflecting herself and the handful of other women- some older, some younger- all waiting for their instructor to arrive.

And then _it_ appeared. A red, form-fitting sequined (had she mentioned the _sequins?_) body-suit that left one arm and leg exposed, along with just enough chest for Kagura to confirm that, nope, that was a dude. Definitely a dude. She had to admire the precision with which he had applied the glitter to form the massive red star on his cheek.

"Neck, shoulders, hips, knees, ankles! I wanna see you moving! I wanna see you _feeling!_" It was hard not to laugh for the first ten minutes, but as Kagura started listening to the music, started twisting her body, started remembering how to move her limbs, it was hard not to tell this Jakotsu guy to step it up a little.

His steps were basic- it was a class, they were simple and repeated themselves: left-together-right-together, back-left-front-right. Over and over again, until-

"Ooh, we've got a bit of a diva over here!" Diva? Really? He was going to call _her_ a diva with _him_ dressed like that? "What's wrong, honey? You wanna teach instead?" Don't pout at her, Kagura wasn't here for pouting. He had expressive black eyes with just a bit of twinkle in them, his hair short and spiked with gel. He wasn't very tall though, Kagura almost had an inch on him.

"I don't wanna teach, I wanna dance." Hip-hop, ballet, burlesque, sword-dance, belly-dance, she didn't care: just something that wasn't a basic step-class.

"_Kay-kay."_ He was just a little bit annoying in just the right kind of way as he made the dismissive sound, flicking his wrist at the rest of the class. "You ladies sit down, take a five minute breather- hydrate! Always hydrate! But you-" Her? "Let's see what you can do, little diva."

What, she added a snap with her neck and a twist with her arms and that was diva-material?

But she stepped up to the front of the room anyways as Jakotsu in his screaming costume went and changed up the music, the brunet sashaying back up to the front before the mirror as he started counting time with his foot. Kagura was doing the same, tapping her fingertips together as she looked at her reflection in the studio mirror- reaching up briefly to tighten the twisted bun she'd made of her brown hair.

"Follow." Fine. _Step-forward-back-right, _okay_, left-over-right and twist, _sure._ Snap and bend, twist, step right. _There_._ "Clean up those lines!" _Back-step, pump, quarter twist-_ what was that? "Trick-step, it's all in the knee."

"Show me that one again." So he did.

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><p>Twelve minutes of step-class for every three minutes of dance. Fine, maybe that made it fair for the other women who showed up, but a grand total of twelve minutes spent dancing in an hour just left her frustrated and wanting more. Thankfully, as Kagura filled her bottle at the tank and gulped down some of the cold water, the instructor had picked up on this.<p>

"You coming in every class?"

"Every Saturday for a month, yeah." This clearly displeased the man. He even went so far as to pout at her, like he was a little child watching a bag of sweets walk out of the room.

"I teach four times a week-" _Yeah, _but-

"I can only come on Saturdays, work." Captain Sequin folded his arms slowly, clearly not bothered by the little plastic-y bits digging into his skin. "It's only four classes, but I just have a month pass."

"Passes are worth more than four sessions, you won't get your money's worth." She shrugged at this, how could Hakudoshi have known that? She still got to dance, if only for a little bit. "Tell you what..." Huh? He was staring at her with those twinkling eyes, hand on his sequined hip and one hand pointing at her. "You come in when you can at this time, after class is done, and I'll give you an hour of my time."

"What?" Woah, was this guy insane? He didn't even know her! "You really don't see much enthusiasm, do you?"

"It's a bit more selfish than that, really." Well at least he could admit to it with a straight face, rolling his eyes and shoulders and looking around the empty studio in a bored way. "I teach 'cause I like it, but the guy I work for full-time is doing some shuffling with staff and dancers. If you can put in the time to learn your lines and points properly, get a real sense of routine, I can put in a word for you..." That... that sounded... "Unless you're happy where you-"

"Hell no! Put in a word!" She jumped on it, she had to, even if he laughed at her- and he _did_ laugh. "I work retail and coffee, so long as I get to keep my clothes on, I'm there!" And hell, there might even be a bit of wiggle room in that...

"'Kay-kay, listen. I'm here four days a week- Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The month pass is good for thirty days of classes and work outs, so starting now you have twenty-nine left." She was loving the sounds of this, it was _way_ too good to be true. "Get it to twenty and I'll actually tell you where I work, and when we're at ten or fifteen I'll actually make the call. Sound good?" Free dance sessions _and_ a job offer?

"I could... just kiss you right now."

"I kiss me too sometimes."

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><p><strong>YES for having a mom who knows how government services work. Of course, this is modelled after a Canadian system, not a Japanese one, but just how much research am I expected to do for a fanfic?<strong>

**Also, someone made a good point in their review last chapter about what Sesschan actually DID inherit from his dad. This is good, because I hadn't realized that I was being really ambiguous about all of that. Clarity has been added to the next relevant chapter, so on Friday that whole mess will be sorted out.**

**Seen any other rough patches or fuzzy bits? Let me know! Read and review guys!**


	6. Sweating Under Pressure

**Sad Inuyasha playlist, Points of Authority (Remix), Crawling (Remix).**

****A note on pacing/length: At the moment this story is at chapter 28 on my desktop, and far from complete. I don't know what it is about this fandom that demands long stories to tell the tale, but bleh. But of course, some of those chapters are still quite short, like this one. ****

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Sweating Under Pressure

"So look, I know you're still pissed with me, but for _fuck's sake, _Sesshoumaru pick up your phone!"

Hang up, check voice-mail, try not to be furious at the lack of messages. Eight months, it had been eight _fucking months _since the Will debacle and Inuyasha's ass-hole older brother still wasn't talking to him. He still hadn't set foot in the bar (that anyone knew of) since that night.

When their father died Sesshoumaru had been given a heafty chunk of the old man's wealth, and his two properties: Tenseiga and Tetseiga, the rest had gone to Inuyasha and his mother. But since Tenseiga was basically a train-wreck on wheels, his brother had only properly managed and taken care of the Iron Crusher. Now Sesshoumaru didn't even have Tenseiga: he'd dropped out of college to keep Tetseiga running, but that degree was the only way he'd get the second building back under his legal name.

So Inuyasha got something he didn't know how to handle or control, and his brother was left with no income. The only time Sesshoumaru had come _close_ to the Tetseiga's front door since that night had been to drop off what had looked like the contents of his home office. It had been only a few days before Christmas, and Inuyasha hadn't been there to try and get the man to talk to him. Going by his condo just got Inuyasha turned away by the doorman and the building security. All he had were Sesshoumaru's files, the paper template of how the Tetseiga was run.

Copies and stacks and charts and graphs: everything from how many forks were in the bar's kitchen to what kind of chemical concoctions went into Renkotsu's explosive displays. His brother was a meticulous and controlling son of a bitch, but he knew this building backwards and forwards, inside and out, _upside down_ even.

And the worst part was that for eight solid months now the Tetseiga hadn't even _needed_ him around. Everything just kept going like clock-work: there would be days where Inuyasha would come in and he'd just sit in his brother's office and do absolutely nothing. Sesshoumaru had always worked at least four months in advance with everything, sometimes six months, hell maybe even _twelve_ months if he was really into whatever it was!

_'The only reason I know what to order every month is because I have every receipt and invoice the bastard's ever gotten, all filed like it's inside a computer.'_ But Sesshoumaru's foresight was beginning to wear thin. The monsoon season was starting, this didn't mean a whole lot for the building, but Mukotsu had already finished drilling him about the summer menu- the Tetseiga almost _never_ recycled items from past seasons, they always had the big guy in the back whip out new or interesting dishes. And Renkotsu wanted to know what sorts of storm effects Inuyasha was okay signing off on. And Hachi'd had just been a bumbling mess behind the bar and had to be let go- so now he needed another new bar-tender to relieve Jakotsu from a job that wasn't his- or he might just need new dancers, and-

And how the hell was he supposed to know how to budget for all this stuff? Every time he called Jaken in for help the stroked-out little toad just left him with more questions, so he kept bringing in Miroku 'cause at least the guy had some business skills. But Miroku wasn't being paid for his time, and it was starting to really _eat up _the guy's day so he really should just be brought in as a consultant, so that would mean more... _Fuck!_

He snatched up the cell and started punching his thumb mercilessly into the keypad. He didn't even need to look up Sesshoumaru's name anymore, he'd memorized the stupid combination and held the device up to his ear as he heard the ring tone on the other end. Two, three, voice-mail.

"Look, I've offered you your job back- I've _begged_ you to come take your job back! Buy me out! Bring me a yen- _one fucking yen!_ and it's yours again. It's yours _still!_ Fuck, Sesshoumaru! Totosai drew up the damn Will and _he_ says you can over-rule it in court. You _mother_ won't stop harassing me for stealing the place- so I can't imagine what she's been like on _your_ end- so answer me!"

"Hey, boss?" Jakotsu- _not fucking now!_ He snapped his hand at the dancer-turned-bar-keeper, telling him to screw off for a few minutes. Inuyasha was still talking into the phone.

"At least fucking help me! Give me one damned clue what I'm supposed to be doing here, will you? And start answering your god-damned phone, Sesshoumaru or the next time I see you I'll yank that stick out of your ass and beat you with it!" There! Hang up. Check voice-mail. Swear very, very loudly.

"_Kinky_. Illegal since you're like, brothers, but-"

"Fuck you." Collapsing into his chair again, behind Sesshoumaru's desk, Inuyasha rubbed one hand over his yellow eyes, the red sports-jacket he was wearing starting to feel hot even in the air-conditioned room. His grey pants were wrinkled around the knees since he'd spent the night here trying to figure out what the hell he was doing running a night-club. "Whaddya want, Jakotsu?"

"To make a suggestion." _Great._ "Actually, more of a point, followed by a suggestion."

"Spit it out."

"Sir," -s_ir? Jakotsu! _"-is Sesshoumaru's inbox ever full?" Huh? Looking up as the dancer shut the office door and came strutting across the room- seriously, did he ever just _walk_ anywhere? "Most people have like... four or five slots in their voice-mail, maybe seven, is Sesshoumaru's ever full?"

"Eh, no?"

"How often do you call him?" Fuck you. "Today, how many times?"

"Twice? What the hell, Jak?" The dancer was just grinning down at him.

"Exactly. If it's never full then that means he's checking them, right?" So he's been checking eight months worth of messages and can't fucking lift a finger and _fucking call him back that stubborn shit-faced son of a-! _"Well that's my point." Jakotsu was now seated on the corner of Sesshoumaru's desk, Inuyasha watching the man pluck a picture of Kagome up off the cornre. It was a shot of her at work, holding some violet-haired toddler in her lap while he was desperately trying to play with a set of red blocks.

"And your _suggestion?_ How do I get him talking to me again?"

"Huh? Oh, I got nothin' there." The picture was set back down, but not until after Jakotsu stopped looking curiously at the baby in the photo. "I wanted to suggest a replacement for me." Replacewhat?

"Oh fuck, you're not _quitting _on me,are you?" No, oh fuck no, fuck fuck no fuck no fuck... no... _no...!_

"Quitting? Of course not!" Oh- well in that case good. "But I find I like bartending more than I thought I would. I get to talk to more hotties that way." Eh, that was one way of looking at it? "So I've got a _great_ dancer lined up who'd be a perfect addition to the joint. She's strong, flexible, sexy, bendy, twisty, smells good and-"

"Jakotsu I'm not hiring a hooker!"

"Kagura-chan is _not_ a hooker!" Chan? _Chan?_ "You're a horrible man for saying so, Mr. Charleston-Taishou! Horrible, horrible half-breed!"

"It's not a crime to be an American! And it's not a _breed_ either!" Xenophobes! All of them! "And stop pretending to cry!"

"Okay fine, I love you." For fuck's sake- "But really, give the girl a shot she's _excellent._" Fine- fine! Tell her to come in and audition then... "Oh, but you have to pay her what you were paying me before I changed jobs. Barkeepers gets tips, dancers don't."

"What was I paying you?" No, wrong, what had _Sesshoumaru_ been paying him? And why was Jakotsu gazing off at nothing again? He was like a cat sometimes. Lost in space. And then Jak came back!

"I changed my mind, pay her more." _What?_ He didn't just have money to throw around like that!

"What the hell did you promise her! ?"

"_Enough~."_

"Enough? Enough for what! ?"

"Tee-hee, you're so cute when you're mad!"

"_Jakotsu!_"

"Byebye~!"

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><p><strong>Breaking because next chapter is next chapter~ Double update time!<strong>


	7. Inuyasha, July 12th

**Written at the same time as Chapter 6, so same playlist.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Inuyasha: July 12th

Jakotsu really wants a closed audition, so Inuyasha knuckles and gives in to his flamboyant friend's wishes. Besides, Jak swears up and down that this chick can dance fine in front of people, he just doesn't want Inuyasha pretending there's somebody better in the run-of-the-mill crowd.

Whatever, he gives the girl a call.

He's then told to watch his pro-nouns, 'cause the dancer is the same age as the owner.

It's a Tuesday when he schedules to have her come in and dance. At one-o-two in the afternoon the doors rattle and Inuyasha has to yell for someone to unlock the fucking front- wait, whaddya mean _he_ has the keys? Screw off, Bankotsu!

"Hey, sorry I'm late. Kagura Kaze." Inuyasha Taishou, he doesn't add the first part- why flaunt it? She's not late but yuck, she's kinda sweaty when he opens the tinted glass doors and lets her in. Did she run here? "I walked, it's a bit far." Seriously? She walked in _summer?_ Why not just take a car?

She seems to resent this but he doesn't back off; yeah, it was a stupid question. Moving on... He lets her pop into the washroom to splash some water on her face before they begin, the girl taking her back-pack with her and holding the black sack like it's carrying a pile of gold. Eh, whatever.

She comes back out with her black hair twisted and tied up on top of her head, shedding the white shirt that looks like the sort of thing mall employees wear and exposing the red yoga top underneath. Under her pants she has on some black shorts that come down till just above the knee.

She's lean, almost skinny in the arms and through the waist. At least her legs are good, but Jakotsu keeps swearing back and forth that she's strong from where he's seated on the glass bar. The girl gives him a wink and a little smile, but Inuyasha's not worried about her passing out on stage. She's too skinny for the foreign crowd, but should fit in fine with the locals. Be nice if she'd had a bit more weight on her, but whatever.

"Jak says you already have a routine to show me?" Inuyasha pulls up a chrome chair from one side of the room and sets it on the dance-floor, gesturing for the girl to get up on stage next to the DJ booth. Bankotsu was in anyways putting together a new house mix, so he's still in his electronic cage to receive the CD the girl pulls out of her bag.

"Jakotsu, bro! I've been looking for this!" The DJ sounds mad as he pulls down his large head-set and pops the disc into one of the half-dozen mouths punctuating the magic black boxes he works behind. His banryu work-station is a monster of turn-tables and switch boards, so many buttons and dials and lights going off at a time that it's pretty much the Tetseiga's audio brain. When guest DJs come in they always have to bring their own equipment: banryu's too mish-mashed for anyone else to just jump on and work with.

But Ban's not mad, he just cues up a track and starts pumping it through the building's speakers, working his fingers over the dials and free-styling a few seconds of thrumming audio. He's just happy to have his mix back- and now that he thinks about it, Inuyasha hasn't heard that Bone-Eater's track in a few weeks. Mystery solved. And Ban's got the woman's attention too.

"Track four?" Bankotsu just nods to her and flips a few more switches, cuing up the song as he puts his headset back on over one ear and adjusts for feed-back in the empty building. Inuyasha catches his friend's eye and gets a nod camouflaged as a slow head-bob, the DJ getting into his job as the dancer settles into hers. Yeah, Inuyasha knows this routine.

Not _well_, but he knows it.

It starts off simply enough, the familiar foot-work timed properly on the half-beats in the jumping song. But she's not just doing foot-work, her arms are in on it and her shoulders dip and sway at just the right time. It creates that powerful club-effect where the upper part of her body looks like it's stuck a half-second behind her legs and feet. It's hard to see the effect right now, but throw in some ghost-lighting, smoke and booze and you've got a captivating sight. Her face is also involved, focused but easy-going, making the steps look easy. But it _is_ easy.

Mid-step, Ban jumps the tempo on her and the girl misses her next point. But it's just the one before she picks up the next and starts dropping twists and pulls like rain. The first time the DJ breaks the rhythm with his fingers on the turn-table it trips her up again, but she gets it. They can see her start listening to the music instead of just counting in her head and focusing on her steps; she hears the next one coming and- was that Jak's trick-step?

The more the DJ plays with her, the more the girl starts embellishing her routine. Inuyasha feels a sympathy cramp build in his leg when Ban decides to be a jerk and drops the song's speed to half. The change catches her in an uncomfortable pose with her back and shoulders twisted, one leg carrying all her weight in a slow, down-ward twist. _Ow._ She wants this, and she's probably good enough to get it too.

Ban stops yanking her chain after that, which is odd 'cause the DJ was starting to get into it with his eyes closed and fingers going, head tilted to the side like it always is when he's mixing on the fly. Now he just lets the song play normally with no more interruptions or changes- pulling his headset down to rest around his neck. Why's he keep looking at the door?

"'kay, that's good, cut it for now." Standing up, the owner grabs the small folder that was sitting on his chair under him. So what if he sat on it? S'fucking paper. "Ban! Shut it down!" The DJ jerks a little and then cues a fade-out for the track, popping out his missing disc and starting to play around with his dials and sliders again. But he glances up again at the doors, and Inuyasha ignores it as a tick. "Jak, go bug someone else." The bartender comes flouncing up and is turned away with a scathing word, the flamboyant man pouting before he offers a cute little wave to the girl now sitting on the edge of the stage, catching her breath.

"Well..?" She's probably going through every mistake in her head, good thing he can't think of too many himself.

"Hours here are pretty flexible, when are you free?"

"Pay here's over minimum?" Uh, yeah? "Any time then, just gimmie a couple hours notice."

"You need the money?" That probably explained Jak's emphasis on paying her at his old wage. She just shrugs though, doesn't start begging or looking nervous.

"Wouldn't be working if I didn't." _Haha_, very funny. The girl pulls a small towel and a bottle of water out of her bag, the air-conditioning is already drying the sweat on her face and shoulders, but she gulps the water and pats herself down. He opens the folder and starts jotting down some basic information on the first page- marking the boxes he needs her to fill out.

"You're expected to be here from nine till three am on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights, and long-weekend Thursdays and Mondays. Otherwise, you get Monday off and the rest of the week you come in from between ten and three during the day for practice and rehearsals." They only need dancers on the weekend, during the week the place has a strong enough reputation and restaurant component to easily turn a profit.

He looks up as he outlines her hours and sees a strange, but eerily familiar look in her red eyes. She's listening but not looking at him, her fingers twitching rapidly before she refocuses on what's in front of her. He can practically see the line between her eyes and the box with her hourly wage in it, and then her eyes go blank again and the twitching picks back up. She's doing math in her head? It's taking her a while to get to the total though.

"_Rent... cable... passes..."_ Wait, she's not totalling her salary- she's _budgeting._

"Are you like a number-wiz or something?" Haha- she lost her total! She gives him a harsh look, but it fades before he really recognizes it for what it is. She looks relieved, maybe a little over-whelmed.

"A wiz? Never, I had to get good." Really? Why? "Necessity." Well fuck him if-

"_Do you really go through it all in your head first? No calculator?"_

"_Of course, little brother."_

"_How did you learn to do that?"_

"_Necessity." _

Sesshoumaru could budget an entire year's worth of inventory in his head if you gave him some rough numbers and the time to chew through it. No paper, no finger-tricks, his mind was a steel-trap for costs and revenues.

"And _this_ is Kagura Kaze, the young dancer _I_ discovered, with no help, aid, or assistance!" Kagura's head is down as she fills in things like her address and emergency contact info, but she looks up right when Inuyasha turns to figure out who Jakotsu's fawning over.

His world slows down to a crawl and he doesn't hear Kagura's response to the introduction, the woman just hops off the stage and bows over her paper-work. Inuyasha is just staring and can't for the life of him figure out how to react. It explains why Bankotsu was so distracted and scuttled away back-stage after finishing with Kagura's audition, it answers the question of who Jakotsu found to bother after Inuyasha dismissed him.

His own green-gold eyes and silver hair match the off-yellow tint of Sesshoumaru's gaze, but his brother's eyes have a little bit of red around the rims, they look almost blood-shot. Inuyasha's pressed red jacket is casual and a little warm for summer, Sesshoumaru's black suit makes him look like an under-taker, his hands tucked into his pocket and holding his jacket in the crook of one arm. Why's he wearing a coat like that in this heat? It's the first time Inuyasha can remember his brother showing up somewhere without a tie or with a wilted collar; that's how he looks after about eighteen hours put in at the Tetseiga, not five minutes.

But it's been eight months since he last saw his brother, and Sesshoumaru doesn't even acknowledge Inuyasha's presence as he nods and says something to the new girl he just hired.

"Sesshoumaru-" He cuts off the girl and this gets him a sharp look from his elder brother, but then Sesshoumaru goes back to ignoring him and repeats whatever Kagura was replying too. "Hey, now that you're here, we need to talk. We-"

"There is no we, little brother." Sesshoumaru's not looking at him, he just draws his cold gaze up over the new dancers' head and looks at the skylights for a moment as he speaks. "I came at Jakotsu's behest, nothing more." Passive-aggressive bastard, and what was this about _Jakotsu-?_ "Enjoy your time at the Tetseiga, Miss Kaze." And then he turns and starts to leave.

"Hey!" He's not listening. "Don't you walk away from me!" He's walking away from him. He's not walking quickly, not running or rushing off- he's Sesshoumaru, he doesn't rush, he doesn't even speed. "_Sesshoumaru!_" One brother leaves, the other follows. Screw the paperwork, let Jakotsu handle the girl!

They get outside into the muggy heat of summer, the blue sky is clear and the grey water of the Pacific is visible across the old industrial road on which the Tetseiga is built. The parking lot is large and undecorated, the squat, chrome-finished black exterior of the bar rising up behind them as Inuyasha follows his brother out to where a silver car is sitting. It's a French model, a Renault _Ah-Un_ sports convertible. The engine's still hot from when it arrived: he can see the heat wafting through the air over the hood.

Sesshoumaru's hair is longer than Inuyasha's shoulder-length locks, tied back behind his brother's neck and going half-way down his back. For the first time since they were kids Inuyasha's tempted to grab and yank on that tail to get his half-brother's attention.

"What the hell's your problem! ?"

"You." A response! "You're my problem." It's just a stuffy, proud response, and the little brother is losing his temper as the older one starts feeling around in his pocket for his keys, still not looking at him. "This entire place is my problem."

"Then come back and fix it." Sesshoumaru doesn't answer, just jams the metal key into the door. Frustrated, Inuyasha lifts his foot and kicks the bumper of the damn car, satisfied when his toe leaves a dent and mad enough to meet the infuriated glare in his brother's off-yellow eyes. "Don't fucking play around! So what if Dad pulled some stunt and gave it to me, it's still your-"

"_It is not mine!_" He can't- remember the last time Sesshoumaru raised his voice. But now his brother is storming up to him and there's rage on his face and hate in his words. "He favoured you! Everyone knew he favoured you! Everyone's always known you were the golden child! _Everyone knew this! **I** knew this!_ Don't act like you can pity me over something _everyone already knew!_"

Sesshouma-

"You think you can just throw away what he gave you because you were a child when he died? You think you can just pity me and continue a lie? I will not _work_ for you, Inuyasha, I will not take _charity_ from you! I will never accept the responsibilities _you_ don't want to carry- _never again!_ You'd trade this for a yen? You'd trade _my life's work_ _for **one fucking yen!**_"

So he did check his messages- but he-

"Sesshoumaru!" Sesshoumaru doesn't swear. And this smell, it- he can only smell it because he's this close to his brother- Sesshoumaru's hand fisted in his collar and forcing him back against the side of the car. Under the cologne and a breath-mint- _alcohol?_ Sesshoumaru doesn't swear- Sesshoumaru is _never_-_!_

"You're drunk-"

"Fuck you." All his brother's weight goes behind shoving Inuyasha away from the car, his hand scraping over the asphalt trying to keep his head from smacking the black ground as he falls. He hears the car start up and the door slam shut, the _Ah-Un_'s wheels turning sharply before the engine roars to life and the vehicle shoots past him with enough space to tell him that no, his brother is not_ trying_ to run him over. Yet.

"_Sesshoumaru!_" But Inuyasha's mad now where he's sitting on the hot ground, and he's hurt and maybe even disgusted, and maybe even ashamed. There's heat running up and down his arms and over his back, a strangling tightness in his throat that's got him under the jaw and won't go away- like a dog attacking his jugular and refusing to let go. He gets up and finds a small piece of broken asphalt in his hand as Sesshoumaru pulls the car fast and hard around the turn to get out of the parking lot and onto the road. The car passes back in front of the younger brother as the elder gets set on his way back into the city.

Inuyasha lets the rock fly and hears the satisfying metal clang of it connecting with the side of his brother's expensive car. Sesshoumaru turns in the driver's seat and they share a split-second of raw anger, pure animosity sparking through the air. Neither of them notices the _Ah-Un_ drift over the centre line, it's not a busy road.

But the large truck coming the other way sees it happen, and even with engine breaks and horns and little cars with European handling, Inuyasha has to watch his proud, snobbish, stuck-up older half-brother explode in a cloud of light and silver metal.

* * *

><p><strong>'cause y'know, it's just not Inuyasha until somebody gets hurt.<strong>


	8. Taking Some Initiative

**Crawling (Remix), Searching for the Jewel, One Day in the Village.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Taking Some Initiative

A car-crash was not what Kagura could call a good omen only fifteen minutes after she was hired at her new job, but she'd been wrapped up in a conversation with Jakotsu and receiving a tour with his flirty DJ brother when it happened. The three of them had wandered out to the patio on the second story, the two men completely white-washing the fact that their boss and a slightly older, more attractive man were shouting at each other down below. They managed to ignore it right up until the pretty Tokyo skyline was blemished with a film of smoke from spinning tires, the road under them peppered with shards of glass and metal.

Kagura knew nothing, she just whipped out her cell and punched the familiar three-digit code for help. Bankotsu had run off inside and emerged a minute later out the front door, fire-extinguisher in hand, Jakotsu was stunned until Kagura had to shake him to get the club address.

She left once she heard the sirens. A large cook whose name she didn't catch was there to take her place next to Jakotsu, and she didn't know her new boss well enough to try consoling the shattered soul out in the parking lot. She knew the guy in the car was still alive because Bankotsu and the truck driver were both outside the wreck, calling to him. Kagura wasn't going to stick around and wait for him to stop answering them, she wasn't going to get involved. These people were like family or something, she wasn't part of their family yet.

Kagura had her own blood to worry about.

She wasn't gonna show up in some police report, even if she was just a witness. It'd bring those child-services guys down on her head like vultures. She excused herself quietly and slipped out the back door, walked up to the main road and hitched a ride on the first bus that led back into the metro system.

_'It sucks. He was kinda nice.'_ But a bit of a prick: the guy who'd dressed in a black suit and heavy jacket despite the heat. He'd commented on her dancing, said she should have been allowed to finish the routine so she could correct her mistakes. Hmph. Yeah, it would've been nice to finish, but mistakes? Why don't _you _try it? _'Guess he can't, now...'_ Even pricks didn't deserve to go wild in traffic and fish-tail into the grate of a truck...

It killed her mood for the evening, we'll say that much.

* * *

><p>This. Job. Rocked.<p>

Excusing the fact that her boss' older brother got slammed into a truck on her almost-first day, Kagura loved this job. It was a skilled job, because dancing was a skill not everyone had, so they paid her for it. Working in the mall had been awkward after her birthday melt-down three months ago, and with her hours settled and numbers cleared, she was finally able to hang-up the white shirt.

If Kagura was careful, they broke even with her job at the Tetseiga. Including rent. If she didn't want to, Kagura didn't have to touch Naraku's blood-money ever again. If she kept her job at the coffee house, (which she did, just at reduced hours), they could actually live in some comfort.

"Are we getting a bigger apartment?" Ah, no. "What if I got that job, could we get a place with three rooms instead of two?"

"_Haku_-"

"Wacdonalds is hiring. _Again_." Kagura was standing in the kitchen when this conversation came up, Kanna sitting in the living room with the infant- toddler. She was helping the baby stack the brightly coloured wooden blocks that they'd finally bought for him. Kagura'd found books for him too, little baby things that she could read to him when he was restless and didn't want to sleep. Kanna had a (faux-)silver mirror hanging in her room now, and a little painting and drawing set that seemed like a good idea after an art festival at her school.

Hakudoshi got mad whenever Kagura tried buying him anything, but she'd charmed him with a poster signed by the Hiten and Maten when they performed at the Tetseiga. She'd seen one or two posters of the Thunder Brothers' on Hakudoshi's wall, but the boy had held the poster like it was printed in gold when she handed it to him. Unfortunately, the stars had faded from his eyes since then, the fifteen-year-old standing there now in a grey sweatshirt and jeans with his arms folded. The gold chain around his neck was hidden with Kikyo's earrings stuffed down the front of the sweater, but he was always wearing it, and he was always _scowling_.

"Okay, fine." His face changed, not a lot, but enough that- "Bring me your marks, then we'll talk about it."

"_What?_"

"Semester's almost over. Bring me your term marks and if they're high enough, you can start working." Stern face, dark violet eyes trying to stare through her soul. Keep staring, boy.

"Fine." Really? Just like that? She actual won! "Kagura." Yeah? "It's burning."

"No! _Shit-!_" Turning back around at the skillet on the stove, Kagura pulled the pan off the heat and quickly started poking and pulling at the tangled noodles desperately. She got home at four now, almost every day, and Haku was old enough for her to leave him alone at home once the baby was asleep and Kanna put to bed at night. She could cook for her siblings now; sometimes breakfast, occasionally lunch, always dinner.

"No... No it's all... _black_..." She just couldn't _cook._

"Tastes fine..." She heard the noodle crunch in his mouth as the boy picked one up and chewed. His lips did that twisty thing they always did when he hated something. Kagura sighed and started going through the fridge for left-overs while her brother tried pulling the okay-yakisoba out of the mess of charred onion and cremated shrimp. Maybe Mukotsu could give her some tips on how to not give her siblings food poisoning...

_'Well, at least we _have_ left-overs.'_

It was a nice thought. It gave her comfort, made her appreciate it when Haku poured water over the empty skillet and started scrubbing it to wash off the burnt oil.

* * *

><p>"Kagura-" It didn't even feel like working when she came to rehearsals, Jakotsu was a bar-tender now, but he still did most of the choreography for Kagura and the other dancers. Bankotsu also got their input on the beats and rhythms that pumped through the house. She <em>loved<em> this job.

Kagura was just getting her stuff together to head home when Inuyasha came walking up. He was holding a thick legal-sized envelope in his hand and the woman stopped cold for a moment. Then she realized he was wearing his brooding, _I'm-a-very-serious-man_ face and not his _I'm-pissed-and-looking-for-a-victim_ one. She'd be fine.

"You need something?"

"Yeah." Ooh, uncomfortable boss was uncomfortable. "Look, I know it's not your job or anything, and I'd get Jakotsu to go since he knows the guy real well and-"

"Spit it out?" C'mon, she had to get home, the babbling was ridiculous. But he stopped stammering, meeting her red eyes with a dead-pan yellow stare. Then he held his hand out with the envelope, still reserved and moody-looking, but she accepted it, noting the red string looped around the buttoned back so it couldn't fly open. Hmph, guess that meant no peeking.

"I need you to deliver this to my brother at Mount Hakurei Hospital." _Mount Hakurei? _That was all the way downtown!

"Be cheaper to courier it." She answered simply, pulling on the light black jacket over her work-out clothes: red sports tee and long white basketball shorts. Kagura's appearance wasn't the most important thing, hadn't been for a while now: she had to look good when performing, but otherwise dating was off the table.

"Courier?"

"Cab money, I don't have a car." And she wasn't going to take a good two hours out of her day just to travel back and forth downtown for her boss. He seemed shocked by the demand for money, but to Kagura's surprise the guy just pulled out his wallet and started flipping through bills. "Your own cash?" He wasn't gonna charge it through the till or something?

"Family business. This should cover the fare depending on where you head afterwards." Huh, thanks. She weighed the cash in her hand before kneeling down with her backpack, opening it up and slipping the envelope in so it wouldn't get bent or folded. Kagura also broke up the cash for good measure, some in each pocket, some in the bag: no sense tempting fate.

"If there's any left over, I'll bring it back." Inuyasha's eyes were off looking at the bar, not listening, and Kagura didn't see a reason to interrupt his deep, thoughtful musings. Whatever. Her boss was a little distracted a lot of the time, but after a month and a half here, she was getting used to it. Gossip ran through Jakotsu like water, Kagura had a pretty good second-hand idea of what had happened behind the scenes before she got here: fathers and lawyers and money, she got it.

"See ya tomorrow." Waving over her shoulder, Kagura almost had her hand on the door before she heard Inuyasha quickly hurry up behind her. _Great._

"Kagura-" Yeah? She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him, hand still on the door. His face still looked _so _uncomfortable. "Look, it's none of my business so-"

"For Kami's sake, Boss, stop it with the kid-gloves!" Turning around, her boss really did look strung out today, his composure spread thin enough that he looked like he was being pulled in four different directions. "What now?" He shut his yellow eyes and rubbed his forehead with one hand, then started talking in circles again.

"You know my girlfriend, Kagome, right?" Uh, yeah, the chick from the gym day-care, same place she'd met Jakotsu. Small world. "She means well but she's kinda nosey sometimes, likes to talk and-"

"_Inuyasha._"

"She wants..." Here he dropped his voice, and Kagura folded her arms sternly, watching him act like a dummy. "...to know how the _baby's_ doing..." The baby? Oh, _fuck._

"I'm single, but I'm not a mother, Inuyasha." He didn't look convinced, but tossed his hands up.

"Look, she was just saying that she sees it a lot where people try to save face by-"

"Passing off my baby brother _as_ my baby brother? Thanks, tell Kagome he's _fine._" Which her boss would _not_ be if he kept this up. Great, between Inuyasha and his girlfriend the entire club would probably start crawling with rumours now. Just fucking _great_. Maybe she'd bring Kanna or Hakudoshi around at some point just to shut them up.

"Hey, I didn't wanna ask!" Yeah, but he _had_. "But just... if you need to reduce your hours or something-"

"Do you _want_ me to reduce my hours, Inuyasha?" Don't talk back, don't get mad, don't pick a fight with a boss who could fire her from the best job she'd ever had: the only job she'd ever wanted to keep. "Do you not think I can do the job now that you know I go home and change diapers after work? Do I still need to prove myself to you? Fine. I'll prove whatever you want," Don't rant, don't rant, shut up- shut up! _Shut up!_ "But you will _not_ write me off for this just because I've got some extra responsibilities to deal with. I can handle my hours, I can handle my routines, and if I have to then I can handle more. I can do this."

Kagura finally got herself to stop talking, and Inuyasha just _didn't_ start saying anything. She didn't know how high her voice had gone: she knew she hadn't shouted but the building was practically empty: sound carried and bounced off the concrete and exposed guts of the hall. He was just staring at her, or staring _through_ her, with a sort of shocked and bothered look on his face and his bottom lip curled in just enough that he was chewing on the corner. He didn't look mad enough to fire her, shit, he wasn't gonna fire her, was he? Her boss gave a small start and a shake, then blurted something out:

"Sesshoumaru." What? "For the hospital, Sesshoumaru Inu-Taishou: our mothers both hyphenated..." Oh, right, he was Charleston-Taishou, the American name got tagged onto his father's Japanese one... "Thanks, see you tomorrow, Kagura." Tomorrow? Like for work? Good- yes, she could do that. She could keep her job- yeah!

"Yeah, bye."

* * *

><p>Getting downtown to the hospital didn't take as long as Kagura expected by cab, but it was still more expensive than she'd have felt comfortable paying out of her own pocket. The tip wasn't huge, only like a hundred yen, but there was enough left over to see her at least most of the way home as she stepped out of the small car and looked up at the hospital.<p>

Mount Hakurei was an ultra-modern building with a funky shape that made it appear oblong; like a giant pill rising out of the pavement. It was all glass and steel, sleek and shiny looking as it reflected the blue sky and the light off the other skyscrapers and megaplexes that made up downtown. It didn't stink like most older hospitals did of astringent and old people, some plants and padded seating scattered around. It was like the designers thought the sun-shine yellow walls and black-streaked marble tiles could make you forget the fact that people bled out and died in this building every day. It was eerie.

"Can I help you?"

"Uh, I'm here to see a patient, Inu-Taishou?"

"And you are?"

"Kagura Kaze." Oh, wait- that's not what the woman (the _nurse_) behind the desk meant. Before Kagura could fumble her words and state that she worked for the patient's _brother_ and that she wasn't just some random person coming to see him, the woman (nurse) was already on the phone with someone. Kagura heard her name repeated and decided not to interrupt: please don't let it be security.

The call took a long time, the nurse not actually saying anything, and apparently not being told anything either as they waited. Behind her desk she started looking over a few forms in front of her, clicking on her computer screen and smiling awkwardly at Kagura no less than four times. Kagura pretended to play games on her phone, eventually firing a short text to Hakudoshi: she was gonna be a bit late tonight, if the leftovers were no good then go ahead and order pizza. It was better than burnt yakisoba...

"Yes! Uh-huh, uh-huh, okay. Yes, of course. Thank you." Kagura looked up as the nurse started chirping into the receiver and then hung-up. The mouse-clicking picked up for a moment before she stood up and fished a visitor pass out of one of her desk drawers. "Please clip this someplace visible on your clothes, it doubles as an elevator key. Mister Inu-Taishou is staying on the fifth floor recovery wing, room five-fifty-eight. Please return your pass when you leave, and have a nice day!"

"Uh, sure, you too. Thanks." Very, very happy staff here. Taking the little badge and clipping it onto the side of her jacket's open zipper, Kagura quickly followed the direction the nurse had pointed when mentioning the floor and room number. Recovery wing, huh? The guy must've been pretty beat up if they'd kept him in the hospital this long, the crash had been almost two months ago.

_'If he's just a bunch of tubes and stitches when I get in there, I'll have to repay Inuyasha for the nightmare fuel.'_ Why couldn't the guy go and visit his brother himself? Was the bad-blood really as toxic as Jakotsu made it sound? Not possible. Her friend couldn't describe something accurately if his life depended on it: everything was loud, extreme, and mind-blowingly over-the-top.

The fifth floor was blue. Powder blue, baby blue, cornflower blue, some royal blue. Cobalt, sapphire and navy also showed up too in places. It was sort of like being up high in the air, surrounded by the sky that changed colours with the time. The walls were always the lightest shades, then the picture frames were white along with the furniture: the tables and chairs were clouds then, pockets floating in that blue sky. See? She could play pretend too. Kagura passed by a nurse' station in the middle of the floor and found a map with the room numbers (again, done in blue), and found the one she needed without asking. No sense bugging people at work.

Most of the rooms had glass walls and sliding doors, lots of natural light coming in through windows too. A lot of the rooms were kept private with shut blinds, but this was okay since, duh, the patient names and room numbers were posted outside the door. She didn't go around reading them until she found the fifty-eighth room: yep, that's the one.

There were voices coming from inside though, or rather _one_ voice. A woman was saying something and there was a lot of it, a shadow moving behind the blinds where they were twisted tightly shut. Kagura couldn't hear more than the general tone of the woman's voice, but if that was his _doctor_ then she'd been wrong to accuse the people here of sounding chipper. It sounded more like a scolding: _how dare you get blood on those bandages! Bad dog!_ Or something like that...

After a few more minutes of the woman's uninterrupted voice however, Kagura finally knocked on the glass near the sliding door's handle. Was the woman yelling at someone on the phone then?

"Who are _you?_" There was- only about a half-second between when the woman opened the door, and when she spoke the question. She was tall and stood there with hair so bright in blond it almost looked white in the sunshine, the light was spilling in through the large window behind her, but her pale, pale green eyes didn't seem nearly as sunny.

The woman was dressed to the nines in a violet pencil skirt and blazer that _should_ have been too violent a colour to look nice, but it just looked really _good_ instead. Her shoes were black, pointed, and at least four inches off the ground, and there was- was that real? A white fur boa was looped around her arms and behind her shoulders, it looked soft and luxurious enough that you almost wanted to reach out and touch it- but Kagura knew better. The woman looked like she might bite.

"Um. I'm here to see Sessho-"

"_You?_ You're that Kagura woman?" Uh, yeah? Nice to meet you too. "_This_ is the woman you wanted to see?" The woman turned on one of those painful-looking heels to face a half of the room Kagura couldn't see from out in the hall, but she also couldn't see a bed from over here, so she was probably-

"Yes, mother." _Mother?_

"_My poor darling...!_" Oh my... back away... The platinum blond covered what was otherwise a pretty spacious hospital room in no less than three strides, Kagura inching forward enough that she could see the foot of a bed and the bandage-wrapped wrist that the woman picked up and started patting and nuzzling in an over-indulgent manner. "That terrible accident has ruined you, I see, you're making outlandishly poor decisions about the people you choose to keep around you." _Thanks._

"I am perfectly lucid, mother."

"Lucid, but not fine yet, _Sesshoumaru_." The woman's voice changed just enough for one moment that Kagura decided to stay back where she was in the hall, not intruding on them. There was a few seconds of silence that could have been anything from a meeting of the eyes to a mother's kiss on her grown son's forehead, and those weren't things Kagura wanted to see or be around. She was about to turn and pace down the hall when she heard the bored deadpan of the man's voice again.

"Four twenty-_six_." Huh? Why was he reading out the time?

"Tomorrow then." She saw the shadow move and heard the heels clicking on the pale-pale blue floor, the rustle of that extravagant fur and then without a word more the blonde came strutting out the door with a violet and gold purse tucked under her arm. There wasn't a glance in her direction or any sign that the woman even noticed her standing there in the hall, and Kagura forced her hands to unclench as she was treated like a potted plant.

"You can come in now." Hmph, _finally._

* * *

><p><strong>Ending because it's long and this is a good place to end =P<strong>

**Before I broke the chapters up this was only like the fifth one. XD I hadn't thought about how the additional breaks would force a delay in the pace, but I can say for sure that the pacing issues are properly resolved (I think) by the fifteenth chapter.**

**Right now I'm working on 27, 29, and 30 and it's still going strong. Woo!**


	9. Mirrors that See

**Inuyasha and Kagome II, Sad Inuyasha Playlist**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Mirrors that See

"You really have your run of this place, don't you?"

"Excuse me?"

Sesshoumaru watched the woman ignore his response as she sauntered into his hospital room. He hadn't been sure when his mother repeated the name to him whether it was the same girl or not, but seeing her now confirmed it: this was the new dancer. The clumsy one.

The door stayed open behind her, it was doubtful that she intended to stay for very long. Her face had that unwashed look most people did when they were too lazy or inconvenienced to shower after a hard work-out, her hair still tied up behind her head but looking messy from activity. She almost looked under the weather from the combined effect. She was wearing simple black track pants with white lines running up the outside of the legs, an ugly pair of worn converse shoes on her feet. A red tee-shirt and a jacket that matched the pants completed her casual outfit, a backpack slung over her shoulder.

"I've never met a patient who had his guests make appointments before." Her red-tinted eyes were moving around the room's decorations as she spoke, taking in the details he had grown disgusted and sick with after five weeks abed. The baby-blue walls were insulting to him, he despised the paper sheets and the pastel colours, and the only consolation was that his window was large enough for him to see out of. There was an air-corridor visible between the buildings where jets and planes could be seen flying throughout the day. But that sight just became even_ more_ irritating sometimes: the entire world was still moving along without him. He hated it.

He hated that Tetseiga was getting along without him. And he hated this room.

"That why they're still keeping you here?" Sesshoumaru pulled his eyes away from that patch of sky out his window and looked at the woman again. She wasn't looking at him, she was staring at his arm. The left one. He didn't need to look: he knew what was wrong.

The entire limb looked at least twice the size of his right one thanks to the smothering layers of gauze and medical tape. Sensors were buried inside the wraps, and the arm had been pulled to the side to rest on its own little platform of moulded plastic. It meant he couldn't sit up properly, or roll onto either side without jarring the limb and bringing a nurse running. The drip going into his right hand was a mixture of fluids and pain-medication, because after no less than five surgeries, the last one being yesterday, the limb still wasn't clear for release.

"Yes." It was the only reason he was still here since the rest of him was fine now. Everything had either healed completely or enough that it was simply tender; his ribs were almost better, the burns on his leg and chest were going away, the bruising was still present, but fading. He could walk and shave properly in the little bathroom attached to his room. He could easily feed himself, and all of his mental faculties were in order. It was just his one arm and, in his frustration, sometimes Sesshoumaru almost wished they'd just cut it off.

There was also unnecessary gauze taped to the side of his face; something done at his mother's insistence despite the nurses having already removed the dressings twice. The same battle was being waged over the white bundle around his right wrist, but that one was impossible to remove with the current state of his left arm and another person in the room. Reaching up, Sesshoumaru started peeling the tape off his cheek, practised at not tangling himself in the IV line running from the bag next to his bed down into his right hand.

"Uh, aren't those important?"

"They've healed already, the nurse will just remove them later." But he hated having the mended wounds dressed. His mother hated the scars they covered, she refused to let people see them even if it was just the nurses, but Sesshoumaru had no such vanity. His pride wouldn't allow him to wear them in front of strangers, but it also wouldn't allow him to bite off the wrap around his wrist either.

"... Do you want me to do it?"

"What?" She'd taken off her back-pack and set it down on one of the blue-padded chairs under the window. Her hands were tucked idly in to her jacket pockets, but she was still standing, watching his fingers fight with the adhesive.

"You're making it look painful, that's all. If you tear the skin or something-"

"If you want an endearing story to take back to my brother, you'd best just make one up." Inuyasha had sent her, there was no question of it. But his mother had long over-stayed her typical one hour visit, and this Kaze woman was not Inuyasha himself, so he had allowed it. Sesshoumaru had even gone so far as to feign ignorance of her involvement with the Tetseiga's new owner. His mother would never have gone off so willingly if she'd known one of his half-brother's employees was waiting to speak with him.

Sesshoumaru had shut his eyes after speaking. He had no intention of sleeping, but had no interest in watching the girl put on a poor, tortured mask as she feigned whatever story or emotion she thought would earn his leniency. He knew his half-brother better than that; Inuyasha knew he couldn't come to the hospital himself, so he was sending his employees inste-

"What are you-?" Warm fingers wrapped around his hand and pushed it away, another set of fingers pressing against his face firmly but gently against the slightly damp skin on his cheek. He felt tension on his face as the tape was peeled, but it was mediated by the pressure she applied to tighten just the right places and pull the dressing off. The contact was sudden and decidedly unwanted, but before he could growl anything at her the last corner pulled away and the girl stepped back.

"What I tell my _boss_ is _my_ business." She checked the underside of the dressing briefly as she spoke, apparently satisfied by the pristine white that showed itself before she balled the gauze and plastic up between her hands. "Dunno why you deserve that kinda reassurance though."

"I could have you arrested for that." Or at the very least, escorted out of the hospital. How dare she just walk up and man-handle him like-

"And I could tell your brother such an _endearing_ story, with a police report to prove it." Was that black-mail? Emotional black-mail? He stared at her as she gave a wicked little grin and tossed the bandages into the waste-bin next to his bed, Sesshoumaru watching her tuck a strand of red-black hair behind her ear where it had escaped from the twisted bun behind her head. Then he realized why this woman looked so strange to him; she wasn't wearing any make-up. "You know, those could be a lot worse."

"What do you mean?" She was still looking at his face, not staring as dramatically as she had at his arm, but he saw her eyes flash to his and then away again, back to his cheek.

"The scars, you've seen 'em, right?" No, he wasn't interested in such things. "Here." She left the bedside and went over to her backpack, going through a few small compartments before pulling out a small flat disk set in a pink frame. A pocket mirror? She handed it to him and he immediately recognized it as plastic and broken, more like a doll's mirror than something a grown woman should be carrying around with her.

He looked at the scars and understood what she meant. Cut across his right cheek were two smooth slashes that moved from half-way across his face back almost to where his hair normally fell. They were evenly spaced and without any rough, jagged edges though, the new flesh visibly pink. Ironically, they probably matched the set cut over his wrist. Sesshoumaru stopped looking at his reflection after a moment, but didn't return the mirror. He looked at the woman instead, curious.

"Why carry a mirror if you don't paint your face?" This little thing wouldn't be any use when she was working either. The Tetseiga had a proper dressing area for the dancers; large mirrors with lights so they could see. Real mirrors made out of glass.

"Because only little kids use face-paint?" Her retort was not funny, she seemed to think it was, and his lips twitched rebelliously, but it was not funny. She was not clever. "I don't have time for make-up and curling irons anymore."

"You dance in a night-club."

"Where I _work_ and so put on make-up and use curling irons." She must have seen the disconnect in her logic now, because the thin woman shrugged her shoulders and leaned back against the glass wall behind her, crushing the blinds and creating a loud sound. The racket disturbed them both and she quickly stood up straight again, sitting elsewhere so she could be comfortable. "Make-up sends the wrong message outside of work."

"Then you do yours like Jakotsu, because not every woman who wears lipstick is a whore." And then she laughed, not loudly, not foolishly, just a snort and titter behind her hand. Because _he_ was funny.

"Jakotsu's not a whore!" Jakotsu was a good man who had a good heart who was the only person still employed at the Tetseiga whom Sesshoumaru permitted to visit him in the hospital... But he did not _need_ to enforce his statement. So he did not, and she laughed again because he was clever. "But he has a boyfriend now, it's been going on at least since before I started working." Ah, yes, he _had_ heard about that...

"Ginta-"

"-Hakkaku."

A pause.

"Oh, I guess he really is a whore..." Sesshoumaru coughed. He coughed several times with his bandaged wrist over his mouth because he was not smiling, her words had not been funny, and using a tone of voice that was disappointed, meek, and entirely ill-suited to her personality had not rendered her any more effective at humour. Sesshoumaru was not laughing. "Do you want some water?" No.

He nodded, then watched her stand-up off the edge of the bed and walk around to where a plastic cup and pitcher were sitting. His little fit was properly contained long before she made her way back around and reclaimed her seat. Sesshoumaru was half-way through the water when he realized the woman was, and _had already been,_ sitting on the side of his bed.

That wasn't allowed. She wasn't allowed to sit there. That wasn't a place to sit.

He finished his water.

"...What message does it send?" She tilted her head, not a lot, just a slight angle that asked him what he meant. "Outside of work, what's the message you think you're sending out?" She scoffed at him.

"That I'm looking for _attention_." She shrugged, rolling her eyes and letting the words tumble off her tongue. "I don't need that, so there's no reason to mess around with my reflection all morning."

"A dancer with low self-esteem?"

"_Hardly._" Really? So she simply didn't like men? He refused to roll his eyes, but he did permit his lips to curl just enough to showcase his amusement. How ironic.

"Of course Jakotsu's replacement would be a-"

"_Don't say it._" For a moment, watching the dark clouds gather over her face and a boiling aura of rage come flashing up behind her eyes... Sesshoumaru wondered what would happen if he _did_ say it. Would she leave? He waited too long to find out, because the storm passed and she said: "Is it a crime to work in a club and not flirt with men?"

"According to _Jakotsu_-"

"According to _you_ Jakotsu's a whore; if I shouldn't be doing my make-up like him, why would I take dating advice?" He had an answer for her, it was not beyond him to form a clever remark that would continue the conversation, but it was not within his power to halt the interruption before it came.

"Mister Inu-Taishou, I'm sorry to interrupt, sir." A nurse and- no, a male doctor flanked by two nurses entered through the open door with only a brief knock. It was hardly polite, but this was also hardly a private space. Sesshoumaru found himself once again suffocatingly aware of the close walls and far-off sky outside his window, especially when the woman he had been speaking to quickly stood up.

"Uh, I guess I should-"

"That's alright," The man in green scrubs and a lab jacket stated, cutting her off. "We just need to review today's procedure with the patient. Doctor Magatsuhi, general surgeon." Because arms were very general. Sesshoumaru watched the two introduce one another as Kagura gave her name in a subdued voice, obviously uncomfortable and not looking back at him. The doctor was a little too direct, his jaundice-yellow eyes focusing on Sesshoumaru with a clip-board on his arm, his other hand absently drumming on the papers. As always, the doctor's dark lips looked a little bit swollen, his eyes unnaturally wide and staring. He was an uncomfortable person to be around.

"As you know, sir, we experienced some complications during our last procedure and they've resulted in the restriction of blood-flow to three fingers of your left hand, this evening we intend to..."

Between the four of them, Sesshoumaru was the only one to notice Kagura quickly grab her backpack and leave.

* * *

><p>"Bed." The infant was staring at her, defensively clutching one of his red blocks to his chest. <em>"Bed.<em>" Kanna repeated the word slowly, watching her baby-brother's face only change enough to permit the round block partial entry into his toothless mouth. He wouldn't choke on it, it was too big.

"_Baa.."_ No, _'Baa'_ was a sound sheep made.

"_Bed._"

"He's still a little young to be speaking, Kanna." The dark-eyed girl looked up and saw her sister watching from the small kitchen, a few cylinders and open boxes on the counter where Kagura was sitting. Kanna was curious, she recognized some of those things.

Making sure there was nothing on the floor for the infant to choke on, Kanna grabbed her Wacdonalds fries and crawled out from under Hakudoshi's line of sight in the living room. Her older brother had brought home dinner from the Wacdonalds where he worked, and was now crashing on the couch watching a movie about horses.

"Your make-up?" Kanna spoke softly and looked down over the paints and pigments, the flat discs of powder and the smooth, sweet-smelling creams.

"Mhmm... I've learned a few tricks since I got my dancing job, it's good to practice." Kagura hadn't worn her make-up since they'd moved to the apartment. Kanna could remember always watching her sister play with the black pencils and bright powders in the house where they'd lived, but that had stopped. After the night in the police station, after they'd left the house, Kagura started wearing the colours less and less until she almost forgot about them.

Kagura was looking into the little folded mirror that also held a small soft puff and a disc of skin-tone powder, the back of her hand smeared with different colours and combinations of blush, like a painter's pallet. The girl quickly scampered down the hall to her room, pushing a small chair up against the wall and climbing on. She was just tall enough to unhook the big, heavy silver mirror from the wall, and came padding back with it as Kagura turned around.

"Hey! What're you doing?" The big mirror was better... "Here, be careful with that... Like this?" The little breakfast bar where Kagura was sitting faced a corner of wall that stood alone. Kagura always complained about how it was stupid to have it there, blocking the view of the living-room, but now her sister just propped the mirror up. Kanna climbed into the seat next to her, Hakudoshi ignoring them both as the sisters looked down at the different colours in front of them.

"Our skin's too different for you to use my foundation, but here." Foundation was like the matte under all the colours of the painting, the splash of colour and hue that was always a little visible: the yellow behind the sunset, the blue under the mountain. Kanna liked the yellows... "Just build up in layers, like your paintings. Close your eyes." Kanna felt her sister's little brushes move over her eye-lids, listening to Kagura speak about the strokes and flicks to use over the eye. It was like art-class on her skin, she couldn't see the stroke, but knew what it felt like. "Hmph, this stuff's cheap junk. Maybe I'll check the labels at work and see what they use. Open your mouth a little?"

She expected lipstick but felt what she recognized as chap-stick first, a quick kiss of the waxy paste, a thin layer before the thicker touch of the pigment. "Makes it easier to take off, and your lips from drying out. Now open."

Kanna looked at her reflection in the mirror, and at first she didn't see anything. Then she blinked her eyes and she noticed the difference, blinking one eye slowly and then the other. It almost wasn't there, the flash of something sparkling and a memory of smooth orange and yellow that soaked into her skin. It was skin she saw, and it was still her lips with a touch of marigold and golden-rod, it was just the difference between a picture of a flower and the petals in your hand. Kanna was looking at Kanna in the mirror, but she was beautiful.

"Ah- crap! See, this's really cheap. I didn't even press that hard." She looked at the lipstick in Kagura's hand as her sister spoke, looking at the deep, velvety red stick of pigment where it had rippled and collapsed inside the tube. Some of it was on the back of her hand from falling, her lips only half-coated in the almost-purple. Kanna watched in the mirror how Kagura still managed to wipe the colour onto her lips, rubbing them together until the deep red- that was so much different from her real lips- just melded into her skin and became real.

It was like magic. It was like having a mother.

"_Hey..._ Hey c'mon now, kiddo, it's not so bad. Maybe this weekend you and I'll go buy some nice make-up together." Kanna didn't mean to cry and break the picture her mother had painted, but Kagura brought her voice down really low so Hakudoshi wouldn't hear and the baby wouldn't get upset. The baby didn't cry unless you cried first, so you couldn't show tears around him.

She was led into the bathroom and Kagura held her hair back as Kanna looked at her reflection one more time, the dark pencil-lines running down her cheeks, then splashed her face off in the warm water, followed by soap. Kagura was still talking about going shopping, laughing a little when she mentioned something about a cleanser to help take the make-up off easier.

Kagura liked going shopping, even if she almost never bought anything. Kanna didn't like it when they went together sometimes because Kagura would see something she liked and pick it up, and Kanna would choose clothes or something nice. The problem was that by the time they got to the register her mother would always _'forget'_ or have _'lost'_ whatever she'd originally wanted and only Kanna would go home with something. Maybe if they bought make-up, Kagura would take something home too...

"Alright, lets get you in bed." Kanna let herself be led into her bedroom, noting the empty spot on her wall where the mirror had been hanging. Her mother closed the door and helped her get changed out of her black and yellow school uniform, Kanna pulling on one of Hakudoshi's old tee-shirts and a pair of summer shorts while Kagura hung up the small school blazer and skirt. Kanna touched the coral pins in her hair and stopped moving for a moment, then lifted her wrist and rubbed at her wet eyes again. They were her other mother's.

Kanna's mother had been the woman who always had such a sad smile, the woman who sang songs and clipped pictures out of magazines. She was the mother who always cooked big meals with very little food. But she wasn't the mother who opened Kanna's door at night when there was shouting and laid down on the bed with her. And she wasn't the mother who'd show up at Kanna's school some days and took her to the park or out to the mall until it was dark out, dark enough that Kanna couldn't see the broken window until the next day, didn't notice the new hole in the wall. She wasn't the mother who had pulled Kanna out of bed when before the police broke down the door. And she wasn't the mother who had helped Kanna out of the closet with the infant, or who'd led them out onto the street where it was cold and the police had given them blankets.

"Mama..." And Kanna's other mother wasn't the one holding her right now, letting her cry on a warm shoulder and rubbing her back: it was her _real_ mother. Her real mother was the one petting her hair before helping her climb into bed; Kanna was old enough to do it herself, she was almost twelve, but she let her mother guide her under the covers and then tuck them up over her shoulders. She looked up to see Kagura sitting next to her and smiling sadly for a few moments, stroking her hair and leaving the pins in place. Then Kagura's smile changed and it became something cheeky, like she was laughing at a joke.

"We're doing okay, Kanna. Just think about that, alright?" And shopping on the weekend...

They both looked up at a soft knock on the door, the handle turning before it slid open a crack to reveal Hakudoshi's purple eye and a tuft of his hair.

"Something up?" Kagura leaned back and hooked one leg over the other, lounging on Kanna's bed as their brother swung the door open properly, the infant held against his chest with one arm and watching wide-eyed and curious. It was a sleepy kind of wide-eyed though.

"I just thought Kanna'd wanna hear this." Hear what? She watched Haku bounce the infant a little on his arm, the baby looking up at him before the older boy pointed at the bed. "What's that?"

"_Bed._" It sounded more like '_bid_' or _'bad'_, or maybe '_bud'_, but it didn't matter because Kanna felt herself smiling, Kagura letting out a loud coo as she stood up and walked over to them.

"Bed! Very good, what a smart baby you are!" The baby did not look amused, reaching a hand out to grab at their mother as a sign to be held. Kagura was probably softer than Hakudoshi. "That's right, I was sitting on the-"

Kagura stopped. Actually, it was more like Kagura froze. Kanna didn't notice it until she heard the baby make a sound and she saw Hakudoshi's face change, the infant still half-way between the transition from one sibling to the next. Kagura started moving again only to grab the infant and hold him snug against her chest- which made him happy, but Hakudoshi looked confused.

"Kagura...?"

Their sister suddenly made a very high-pitched _'eeee!' _noise, inhaling sharply through her teeth as her body tensed up and she started dancing a little- like she has to pee? Kanna was sitting up straight in bed, pulling back the sheets so she could get-

"_I was on the bed!"_ Huh? "Oooh, that bastard he didn't say anything! If he's not dead already I'll kill him the next time I see him!" But there was nothing wrong with sitting on Kanna's bed...?

"Wait, whose bed were you on?" Hakudoshi's voice was alright, but he did something funny with his chest and shoulders that Kanna thought looked silly. Like he was trying to puff up and make himself bigger. Kagura just slapped a hand over her eyes, interrupting their brother as Kanna got up and helped catch her siblings when their sister's legs slowly deflated.

"_And I forgot the **envelope**...**!**"_ It was more of a moan than a cry, but Kanna was almost positive she saw a piece of her sister's soul go fluttering out past Kagura's lips. Judging by Hakudoshi's face he saw it too, Kanna kneeling down and removing her baby-brother from the older girl's arms. Her older brother spoke first.

"I think she's tired." Kanna nodded. "Let her sleep in here?"

"I will put the baby to bed."

"_Bed..!_" Yes, bed. Kanna carried the baby away while Hakudoshi tried to decide whether to coax their mother to her feet or just try and pick her up.

"Alright, bed time." Everybody's bed time.

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><p><strong>I just thought it'd be really cute to have some family time from not-Kagura's perspective.<strong>

**Read and review!**


	10. A Real Dancer

**Sad Inuyasha Playlist**

**And just because I don't want silly reviews thinking this is a mistake: when Kagura says she's wearing kittens it means kitten HEELS. It's a style of shoe, and it's not a typo.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

A Real Dancer

"Oh- _Kagura!"_

Oh no, don't make eye-contact, don't make-

"I hear you paid a _heartwarming_ visit to a dear, dear friend of mine yesterday...!" Jakotsu could be the creepiest person in the world sometimes, and having him try to be creepy in the loud, throbbing environment of the club with the black lights, smoke-machines, and dirty dancers was way, way too effective. It was a Friday night, the Tetseiga was packed, and Kagura was just passing by the bar when her friend's hand snaked out over the glass and grabbed her arm to make her talk to him. Jakotsu was, of course, splayed across the bar to do this, but no one seemed to mind; there were at least four other people working behind the counter serving drinks to take his place.

He slid back into his station and played with the various nozzles and shiny things just out of the curious patron's eye before producing a cute little drink for her. They both knew it was just club-soda, lemonade and a slice of lime, but it looked like something more toxic as Jakotsu eyed the current number up on stage and knew she was on a quick break. Kagura didn't _sit_, but she did accept the virgin drink and take a quick gulp: employees weren't allowed to drink the real thing while working, that would just be a train-wreck, and frankly the restriction suited her just fine.

Hell if she'd ever show up at home smelling like alcohol.

"What do you know about yesterday?" She shouted the words because it was a club, you _had_ to shout. No body minded, and Jakotsu tugged up on the broad visor of her hat so he could see her face properly under the blacklights and neon bangles.

"I know you saw a certain_ former owner _of the Tetseiga in the hospital!" Fuck him, Jakotsu was being a creep.

"I was _sent! _There's a difference!"

"Sent for what?"

"Kagura!" Oh fuck, sent to do something she hadn't done but had meant to do but had forgotten about. Sent to drop off something she had meant to drop off today but hadn't because he'd gone into _surgery_ yesterday- so what kinds of crap was he going to feel like today? So she hadn't gone in because- what the hell do you talk about with the brother of your boss- who was almost_ killed_ by him in a car crash- that shouldn't have happened? What was the question?

Kagura chugged her drink as these thoughts fired through her head, biting the lime despite the lack of burn in her throat before she quickly tore back through the crowd in her costume and heels. She didn't look behind her in-case Inuyasha caught her eye- because then there'd be no excuse, she'd have to talk to her boss about the delivery she hadn't made. What if it'd been something super-important about his brother's surgery or something?

"Hey!" The crowd didn't part for the girl in the train-engineer's outfit, but they _did_ part for the silver-haired man with yellow eyes that followed her. This meant that when Kagura was caught by the arm for a _second _time, she had to turn around and smile at her boss. The American looked pissed. "What's going on? I've called you into my office like four times tonight."

"Yeah, sorry, been _real_ busy."

"Didja give him the papers or what?" Uuh... Hey, d'ya hear that! ?

"That's my cue- gotta go!"

"_Kagura!_" But that _was_ her cue blasting through the speakers, so yeah, Kagura _did_ have to go. She darted through the black shadows around the stage and passed through a hidden door in the wall. Inside she reached the warmer light and constant buzz of the make-up and dress area where the rest of the club's dancers were waiting on their rotation.

For a dancer, Kagura really did have the best job ever. The Tetseiga was a club with _class:_ they served a higher, better-paid tier of hooligans and party-seekers. If you dressed up to show off a lot of leg on stage, then you covered up the arms and chest area. If you bared your arms, you got to dance in pants. The new owner hadn't changed the formulae from what his older brother had established, so Kagura just took a few quick seconds to check the heavy red eye make-up and shine on her lips, the glitter on her shoulder and streaks down her arms before she was hustled with two other girls out on stage.

Tetseiga was built in an industrial area, hell, the entire club looked like it'd been built out of a chrome-filled scrap yard, so that got to translate into the acts. Train-sounds and crashing metal blasted through the speakers as Renkotsu cued another billowing cloud of smoke to fill the stage.

Sometimes Kagura danced front and centre, sometimes, like for this routine, she was in the back row: that was fine, it rotated. Tonight she was wearing a pair of straight-legged jeans that had been modified into some surprisingly sleek-looking cover-alls, a black tube-top on under that with hidden support so she could dance and be seen. Heels were a must, but never the break-your-back kind. She was comfortable in the kittens she'd bought: they looked good, and Jakotsu's taste for sequins was a perfect match for the loud environment of the club.

Because a good dancer could still kick and twist and slide in heels, she couldn't break-dance, but that was why the centre-girl was in flats for this number. A good dancer doesn't need to show off her skin to pop her hips and make her body sing, and a real crowd-pleaser doesn't need to lose clothes as the number goes on. Real dancers dance together and know when the music's gonna jump and stop, even if the DJ doesn't and he's too lost in his mix to realize someone's there keeping up with his jam.

And most importantly, after four minutes of scripted dance and free-style embellishment, a real dancer forgets that her boss's waiting in the wings to talk to her until after she's off-stage and it's too late to get away.

Fuck.

"You have a thirty minute break now, and you're gonna talk to me." Yeah, yeah she kinda had to at this point. Inuyasha wasn't storming, but he was doing his angry growly face as he turned and led her off. They moved along the edge of the crowd until they ducked behind the bar and ignored Jakotsu, then through another carefully disguised door into the red-washed interior of his office.

Kagura half-expected him to take a seat behind his desk before talking to her, then realized that was a silly thought because Inuyasha almost _never_ sat behind his desk. Instead, he turned around and faced her, standing in the middle of the room.

"Well, didja give it to him?" Be straight with him.

"_No._" She couldn't help the whine, wincing a little.

"Whaddya mean no!" Sometimes his voice made it sound like he was barking, sort of like a dog would. A big mean angry dog.

"I mean that I forgot-" Man she must have looked so stupid.

"I asked you right when you were leaving! How did you forget to go?" Because sometimes instead of that big loud dog, Inuyasha just sounded like a really tiny yappy one instead.

"I didn't forget to go, I forgot to give it to him!" This clearly confused her boss. He even went so far as to tilt his head at her, his shoulder-length grey hair hanging oddly in the red light. And to be frank Kagura was confused too: why the hell wasn't she pissed off about this? Embarrassed, yeah, but not frustrated because she'd have to repeat the errand, it was more talking to her boss that was the problem.

"Wait, so you saw him?" Uh, yeah? "Did he look okay?" She blinked, now the dancer was _really_ confused. Wasn't he supposed to be mad at her?

"He seemed okay," She supplied, almost folding her arms before she remembered the paint and glitter curled around her wrists. "He looked kinda bored, I mean he's just been sitting in that building for almost two months now." And everyone here made it sound like that Sesshoumaru was a work-a-holic, so that couldn't be an easy adjustment. "He's got a couple scars that the nurses keep dressing or something, I don't get it."

"What about his arm?" Inuyasha moved to lean back against his desk, hands in the pockets of his usual red blazer. His face was... reserved. "I mean... when he swerved like that the whole... left side of the vehicle swung around into the truck... Took them an hour to get him out of that thing..." Out of the wreck. Kagura'd heard the story from Mukotsu and Bankotsu before, but that was why she'd left when she did. She didn't wanna see that stuff, she'd seen enough blood already.

"You two aren't that close, are you?" It wasn't her place, but she asked anyways. Inuyasha seemed like he was in the right kinda mood to just talk. And he was: her boss shook his head and walked off to one of the office walls.

"Naw... His parents split up a few months before I was born. Sesshoumaru's mother is a big-time lawyer so she just decimated our dad's fortunes. I was fourteen when the old man died. Car crash." She didn't mean to think about it, definitely didn't mean to say it, but:

"Hakudoshi was fourteen..." When their father went to prison. When his mother was murdered. Not good thoughts, but her boss was looking at her again and not at the wall with all the newspaper clippings. "Sorry... But I guess that explains why you were so shaken up by his accident." Shaken up being the nice way to describe standing _shocked and devastated_ in the club parking lot.

"Him and I were never close. He was always someone I heard about more than I ever saw, especially after my mother's cancer." Cancer, huh? So that was what the boss's mom was struggling with? "Yeah, she's a survivor, three years clear so far."

"Congrats...?" What else do you say? "He wasn't really a father then, I guess."

"Ah, hell no. But this place, I mean... It's what paid for college." The Tetseiga? "Sesshoumaru _built_ this club after dad died, it was just a skeleton when he got it. It put me through school, it got mom through her therapy, it's where I met Kagome, it just... It's his life's _work._" Inuyasha stopped and shook his head slowly, staring at the red ceiling and looking out through the tinted glass to see the shadows of dancers and bartenders, party-goers and rave-enthusiasts, all kinds of people bumping shoulders and sharing drinks. "You're still new here, you don't need to know all of this but..."

"But until all this latest stuff with your father and brother gets sorted out, it's gonna affect my job?" Pretty much. And it wasn't in a fired-one-day-hired-the-next kinda way, but more the happy boss is sad is depressed is angry is excited is going to kill someone manic-depressive sort of deal. "I'll deliver the papers to him tomorrow when I go, is that okay?"

"Only if you want to, I can get someone else to do it." Nah, she didn't mind. "Really?" She just... sort of shrugged?

"I spent the cab money you gave me without making good on it, and I'm going downtown tomorrow anyways with my sister." She saw something in her boss's eye, and Kagura stiffened.

"Older sister?"

"None-of-your-business sister." Which basically meant younger sister. Yeah, screw him. Why the hell was he pulling out his wallet? "_Don't._"

"Just take a cab downtown, it's fine." It was not _fine._ "It's a business errand."

"It's _charity._" Not that she hadn't accepted charity before, not that she hadn't used pro-bono lawyers and gone to food-banks and taken clothes from the donation bins. But _needing_ charity was different from _looking_ _for_ charity. And Kagura wasn't going to just take money. She had a job, a _good_ job that paid the bills and bought new clothes and fresh food and easy-to-use train and transit tickets. She had a job, and now Hakudoshi had a job too, a job that bought him the things he wanted so he didn't have to use her money to buy stuff. And eventually Kanna would get a job, and then Kanna would have her own money too.

"Why're you surrounded by kids, Kagura?" Fuck him. She watched Inuyasha walk around his desk and open one of the drawers, not even searching for what she assumed was her file as he pulled it out and opened it up. Sure enough, he pulled out the form she'd signed on her first day. "If I call your emergency contact, will that person even know enough to help a baby and a little girl?" He didn't know how old Kanna was, and Kagura wasn't going to take the bait and give him a number. Hakudoshi was her contact, because at least he'd know enough to get home to the younger two if something happened. "How old is this Onigumo guy anyways? Or is that just the baby's name?"

"_Shut up._" She _hated_ that name. She hated it so much. Maybe when Hakudoshi was older he could change his to his mother's maiden name or something, anything that wasn't a reminder of Naraku.

"Kagura I'm your boss: I need to know anything that can interfere with your-"

"Inuyasha you're my_ boss:_ all you need to know is whether or not I show up to rehearsals and how well I pull off my routine!" Speaking of which- a loud tap on the glass wall behind her was a signal that the music was changing. Kagura's three minute warning; that or she and the boss were being too loud. This was a shitty way to spend her break. Inuyasha didn't even look apologetic for bringing this up again after yesterday.

"The fact that you get this upset when I bring it up is the reason I keep asking."

"Then stop bringing it up and I'll stop getting upset!" Damn it, her make-up was running and she only had two and a half minutes to get up on stage. Kagura started walking backwards, not turning away yet just so she could get one more piece in, hand on the doorknob and ready to pull. "You owe _somebody_, Inuyasha, but it's not me."

Twist and pull, out the door and into the noise of the club with her hat pulled down over her eyes so the displaces sequins glued to her cheek couldn't be seen. Back through the wings of the stage and over to the large lit mirror to get a quick, disapproving glance at herself.

Something was wrong with her boss and his family. Or maybe the problem was her family. Somebody's family was desperately messed up here. Her business was her business, not his, and come to think of it the one behind the pushiness was probably his girlfriend. Did that idiot in the hospital have the same bleeding heart? Did he go to pieces whenever he saw a dead dog on the side of the road or a mangy cat yowling in an alley? Maybe he wasn't that stupid, maybe the older brother understood that you couldn't just throw money at people and expect them to always be grateful. Ugh.

_'And that guy can't be my age and say his life's work is complete, not unless he expects to die.' _Forget the make-up, her engineer's hat would cover it. Kagura let herself glare at her reflection and felt her irritation dry the short-lived, frustrated tears. _'If that bastard's dead tomorrow I'll have to go kick his ass._'

Whatever. A real dancer doesn't think about that stuff. A real dancer just pulls down her vizor and takes her place on stage.

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><p><strong>Mm... There was originally a 2-page chapter to follow this one, but after re-reading it and some content from a bit later in the story I think I'ma hold off on it for now. Short update, but the next chapter (Monday!) is long and has more of what we all like.<strong>

**Read and review! Apologies for unintentional shortness!**


	11. Girl's Day Out

**Sad Inuyasha Playlist, I Will Carry You, Let Love In, Mulan?**

**So I made a comment way back in chapter one about Canon, and Sunny's realized that this was a really stupid thing to say. It's been retracted, because aside from a few allegorical elements I have _obviously_ left canon at the door, but I didn't know it would be such a departure when I started, and when I back-read that AN I flinched a little. Oops. My bad D:**

**I just chose to deal with swords and character growth rather than Kagura running away from Naraku the whole time. S'probably the main difference.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Girls' Day Out

Kagura was the kind of person who could get by on not a lot of sleep. She'd done it for years while still living in her father's house, so it wasn't that hard to get used to once she was living on her own with the kids. Getting home by three and sleeping till ten was actually a lot like sleeping in, so Kagura was still the one to get Kanna out of bed so they could go shopping.

"I just have to run one errand while we're down there, but let's have some fun first!" It was a girls-only day out that included hot-chocolate and cake in one of those pretty-looking American-style coffee houses, and buying a bundle of three white lilies when the two-toned blossoms caught Kanna's eye in a shop window. They did more window-shopping than real shopping as they moved through down-town, the little girl constantly tugging on her sister's hand whenever they passed a boutique with clothes in it, or shoes, or purses.

"That one would look nice on you, Kagura." Er, it would but she didn't like the bow on the shoulder. "What about that one?" Such an ugly colour. "These shoes are nice." The plastic would give her blisters.

When Kagura tried changing the tone of the conversation, pointing out a cute child's coat and boots for the cooling weather, Kanna went a little dark on her. Clothing was clearly not for them today.

Things got better when they reached the department store downtown where Kagura wanted to go. Prices were higher the closer you got to the city-centre, but she wanted her sister to walk around on the polished marble floors, see the vaulted ceilings and the giant wall-length TV screens. Kanna was stuck moving between her school and their apartment, it was good for her to get out and see something bigger, something nicer. Let her look at how pretty the world could be, even if the lights were just there to show off furniture and clothing and other things they couldn't afford to buy. At least it looked nice.

The make-up section was where they started to have a bit of fun. Kanna was always reserved, always hung back a little; she'd grown up with too much shouting and violence and danger to be a loud person. She was probably always going to be quiet, but that didn't mean she couldn't smile. The clerk behind the counter could answer any questions the little girl had, and Kagura let her talk and talk about mixing colours and matching tones.

Her half-sister was still too young to actually _wear_ make-up, but playing with it was fine, looking at it, watching how it was done and her dark eyes were transformed with a few brush-strokes and some blush. Girls Kanna's age always wore the bright colours smeared over their eyes and lips, with too much liner and not enough blending or definition, and she could tell her sister didn't like that look too much. Kagura had gone through that stage, she didn't remember it too well, but it had been a rough enough time for her to be thankful when Kanna went back to looking over the neutrals and jewel tones.

Kagura didn't need help going through the cosmetics, she knew what she wore at work and she knew how to _tone down_ that look. She hadn't thrown out the old junk she and Kanna had played with the other night, but she was going to once they brought home some better pieces like the eye-liner she chose, and the nicer bottle of concealer. When was she going to wear it? Kagura had no idea. She had no time for dating, literally no time. And even if she did there'd be nothing more awkward than trying to bring a guy home to an apartment with a baby and an eleven-(almost twelve!)-year-old inside.

"Kagura." Hm? Ooh, that was nice. Kanna was showing her a bottle of silver nail-polish, the inside a swirling cloud of metal flakes and creamy white. Dolling Kanna's face up with creams and powders probably wouldn't go well with her teachers, but Kagura set down the items she wanted on the counter and quickly joined her sister looking over the polish counter. Yes, Kanna could definitely wear these.

"We'll get you a black, a white, and a clear for starters." Her sister didn't understand this, but it was easy to explain. "Instead of putting on five coats of a colour you like, you just put this on underneath and it'll make it easier." This satisfied the younger girl, and Kagura didn't care very much about the bottom layers as she put the three basics on the counter next to the rest of her choices. So what if they spent the better part of an hour going through the wall of shades and hues? That was what today was about.

"What about your errand?" Oh right! They'd left the cosmetics department behind and were wandering through the rest of the store when Kanna looked up at her. The hospital was near... which exit? She stood on her toes trying to bend and see around the next turn, looking for a mall map when- "Kagura." Yeah?

Kanna was pointing in through one of the display windows as they stopped walking, the little girl tottering up to the glass-protected manikin. It was one of those creepy headless ones with only one hand, a silver watch clasped around the wrist: that and the shoes were the only parts of the outfit Kagura actually liked. They were these cute little flats, black with a red bow of pleated fabric strips an a faux ruby set in the middle. Very, very nice...

"I think your mother had a watch like that, done in gold." They'd have to check when they got home, Kagura'd pull out the bags and see what was there.

"Not the watch." Hm? "The shoes, they're on sale." Yeah, they were but-

_'Hosenki's?'_ This was a pretty high-end place, still small enough to put itself in the mall but- even on sale how good a deal could they-? "Kanna?" _Uh oh. _

Missing sister. Expensive clothing boutique,_ missing little sister._

"_Kanna?_" Cha-ching?

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><p>Alright, so fine. She bought the shoes. And before they actually left the mall the two girls ducked into one of the bathrooms and Kagura pulled out some of her new make-up. She didn't apply a lot of it, just let Kanna sit on the counter and watch as she blended the different creams over her skin, then a quick dusting of just the right colours. She knew her sister liked watching her put on make-up, taking out the velvet red lipstick she'd bought and painting her lips with the pigment. Cosmetics were simple: they were just supposed to enhance what you already had, not cover up things you didn't like.<p>

So she'd bought the shoes, on sale, at Kanna's very cute and pleading insistence. She'd bought them and she was wearing the comfortable flats now that Kanna had _accidentally lost_ Kagura's black converses down a nearby mall trash bin. And she was wearing the make-up, and yeah, maybe Kagura had been a little careful about getting dressed today. The baby-blue boyfriend jeans she was wearing were clean and cute, the bottoms folded up over her ankles and the cut hugging her legs and hips properly. And the red cami looked nice under the open white dress-shirt she'd thrown on. She wasn't dressed up fancy, and she just brushed her hair before tying it back up _exactly_ the way it had been before. She wasn't over-thinking this.

That guy in the hospital was a jerk: not _wearing_ make-up didn't mean she didn't know _how to_ fix herself up. This'd teach him. Maybe he'd laugh a little when he saw her face, he'd get the joke and then take his stupid envelope before Inuyasha had an aneurism tonight on the dance floor. In fact, Kagura'd probably go wash her face off after they got to his room- not that they were going to be there long enough for that, but whatever.

"Should've grabbed some earrings..." _Nah_, jewelry would be too much: she wasn't flirting with the poor bastard. But then Kagura realized she'd mumbled the words to herself, not said them in her head. Kanna's interested expression betrayed a sudden curiosity and surprise, and the older woman spun around, hands on her hips. "_No._"

"I didn't say any-"

"_No!_" And no pleading or whining or running off into the store this time either! NO! And so just for good measure, when they saw a jewelry store in the mall or passed accessory shop trying to find their way out, Kagura covered her sister's eyes and made her walk blind.

"Where are we going?" There was no need to corral her sister as they left the megaplex though, the two of them hurrying through the crowded Saturday streets, mindful of people and traffic.

"Mount Hakurei." Kanna looked confused, holding Kagura's hand when it got crowded, letting go and following close when there was a gap. "The hospital." She pointed at the ultra-modern monolith as it came into view around the corner, peeking out between the other skyscrapers and construction sites as the city glittered in the late afternoon sun. Once they crossed the last intersection and found themselves in the small maze of plant-boxes and benches before the doors, Kagura glanced down at her sister again; the girl looking up from where she'd been following dutifully.

"Kanna." Black eyes slowly blinked, a silent response. "_Race you!_" And then Kagura took off like a shot for the doors. She picked a long path through and around the concrete planters, glancing back where she saw Kanna give a confused start- then break into a sprint down the middle of the little courtyard.

It was a short race: there was only so much distance between where they'd been and the front doors, and Kagura slowed enough that she was still running- but not sprinting as hard as Kanna so the little girl touched the glass first. There was no need for exaggerated laughing either: the girl was too old for that, and Kagura thought it was fun anyways. They got a nasty look from someone standing just inside the doors, but screw them! If they fell then they were right outside a_ hospital!_

But the wild act brightened Kanna up, the little girl following close behind her as Kagura walked up to the same reception desk as the first time. It wasn't the same nurse, but at least she knew what to say this time.

"We're here to see Sesshoumaru Inu-Taishou, room five-fifty-eight?" The older woman nodded her head and the computer-clicking started, the nurse comfortably multi-tasking as she picked up the receiver on her desk and dialled the room number through their little phone system.

"Who's that..?" Kanna asked quietly, Kagura looking down after giving the nurse her name- not Kanna's. Sesshoumaru didn't need to know Kanna's name, they were just popping up for a quick minute.

"A friend of my boss. They're kinda like family." Emphasis went on the _kinda_;they didn't seem very comfortable with one another, but maybe she was getting ahead of herself.

"Here are your passes, Miss Kaze." Just like before, this time Kagura handed one to Kanna so she could clip it onto her own jacket. "He was just moved back to his room an hour ago, so he should be alright with a quiet visit." Huh?

"Back to his room? Were they testing him or something?" Uh, woah, not her problem even if they had? But Kagura's reaction seemed to go over well with the woman, who calmly explained:

"According to the nurse he spent last night in the ICU." Intensive... care unit? Wasn't that for surgeries and stuff?

"I thought his last procedure was on Thursday." _Not. Her. Business._

"You'd have to ask his doctor, I'm not involved with his care." Right, of course, that made perfect sense. Kagura wasn't involved in his care either, so she really shouldn't have been told where he'd spent the night. It wasn't any of her concern... It was just really sucky news.

"Which room?" Fifth floor, fifty-eighth room. Kagura probably shouldn't have remembered that, but adjusted the strap of her backpack over her shoulder as Kanna pressed the buttons for the elevator. Five flights of stairs? Not in this lifetime.

_'Please don't let his mother be there.'_ Because that hadn't been comfortable the first time, and Kagura didn't want to show up with Kanna in front of the scary lawyer-mom. Leaving the elevator behind, the pair navigated the baby-blue ward until they reached the nurses' station and Kagura recognized where she was, stopping to speak to a young man seated behind the desk.

"The patient in five-fifty-eight? Yes, he should be strong enough for a visit. Are you family?" The nurse- doctor? Wait, his scrubs weren't the same blue colour as everything else on this floor. Did green mean doctor?

"No, we're just visiting." It was a bad answer but Kagura gave it anyways, watching the man stand up and smile kindly down at Kanna. The man was much taller than her, and the lab-coat only made his stature even more impressive: he was like two men combined into one, just without looking freakish. Nice eyes too, very brown and almost warm-looking. "Are you one of his...?"

"Yes, I'm the new surgeon assigned to his case." New surgeon? What happened to the creepy guy with the purple hair? "Doctor Suikotsu, I'm the head of neuro here at Mount Hakurei." So like, brain surgery? Kagura didn't ask about the old doctor she'd seen a few days ago, the one with the strange stare and and intense personality, but when the tall brunet in front of her bowed kindly, she did drop the question about his speciality. "Yes, I usually work with issues regarding the spine and central nervous system, but Mr. Inu-Taishou's case developed very quickly, especially after... Well, I guess I can't talk about that, hospital policy."

"Oh- yeah." Kagura jumped a little and shook her head, getting over the fact that this Suikotsu guy could have passed for a college wrestler; or a mountain shoved inside a lab-coat and green scrubs. Doctors... she should have stayed in school. "He probably wouldn't want you talking to me about his case anyways. We're not that close." More awkward laughing, and a little bit more small-talk, then Kagura noticed that her sister was missing _again_, and she quickly spun around to see Kanna peeking into the fifty-eighth room.

"Excuse me-" Oh boy. "_Kanna..!_" Quickly trotting up behind the white-haired girl, Kanna turned at her name and then held one finger up over her lips, slipping inside before the older sister could grab her arm. Stupid kid!

Kagura followed her into the room and slowly slid the door shut behind them, careful not to rattle the hanging blinds as there was a soft click of metal and plastic. Looking around, the room was the same as before except for the darker yellow light coming in through the half-curtained window: it was getting close to dusk. Which almost meant close to dinner and work.

Kanna was standing at the foot of the bed, looking up at the sleeping patient where the man lay half-reclined on his pillows. His left arm was down by his side now instead of propped up on that uncomfortable looking tray, still wrapped in gauze but not so heavily anymore. Sesshoumaru was actually asleep, and somehow when compared to the two other times Kagura had seen him: this struck her as uncanny.

His silver hair was only a little shorter than Kagura's black locks; the strands pulled back like the first time she'd visited him, the tail hidden behind his shoulder. He was wearing yet another gauze patch on his right cheek, but it showed signs of him having begun to peel and pull it off like before. The IV was still dripping fluids into his right hand, that arm resting across his lap. His thin lips just barely parted where his head was tilted down to the left.

The gold light coming through the window had a strange effect on his skin and hair... Kagura really wasn't sure what it was.

_'So this probably means the make-up was a bad idea..._' She was... disappointed now. Watching Kanna peer out the window and down onto the street below didn't make her feel any better for having dragged the poor kid here. It'd be boring for her to just sit around in a hospital room and be quiet if Kagura decided to wait. _'I guess I just have to...'_

Unslinging her backpack in defeat, Kagura knelt down as Kanna took a seat on one of the available chairs. She carefully unzipped the main compartment before she drew out the large envelope Inuyasha had given her two days ago, noting his brother's name scratched onto the front in pen before she looked back down at her bag and noticed something else. Why was that other zipper undone?

_'Damn it. Don't tell me...'_ Setting the envelope down on the pale blue flooring, Kagura quickly started poking and prodding around inside the front pocket of the backpack. All her things were there; a couple of pens, a few scraps of paper from work, a crumpled bill... _'You can't tell me I lost it!'_ Kanna's mirror! That little plastic thing that'd been Kagura's birthday gift. _No._ That wasn't just something she could go off and replace!

"_Damn_..."It wasn't her day anymore. Kagura scraped up the envelope and stood up, tempted to kick the stupid bag if it wouldn't have made noise and startled Kanna. No sense upsetting the other two people in the room just because she'd been stupid.

She'd just leave this here then, walking quietly around the bed and setting the envelope down on the small table within reach of his good arm. Looking at his face again, even with the scars on his cheek he still looked... good. A little dead at the moment, and obviously exhausted now that she was close enough to see the sunken look of his cheeks and the darkness around his eyes. But even with a few strands of grey stubble pushing through his skin and into view, the elder Taishou brother definitely had... appeal.

He was just a rich, possibly-crippled jerk with some daddy issues.

Kagura smirked a little at the thought, and was just turning so she could collect Kanna and go when she saw something flash. Stopping, she looked down at that hand resting in his lap, noticing now that his long fingers were curled around something. Her mind clicked to the right answer when she leaned over a little and saw a familiar pink rim around the edge of the plastic mirror.

_'Right! I handed it to him!'_ And so he was still holding it? You'd think they'd take something like that away from a patient going into surgery. And why would he hold it for that long anyways? It seemed more like him to just take a trinket like that and toss it onto a table for someone else to deal with. _'Well there, I brought him his stupid envelope, now I'll just take back my stupid mirror.'_

"Kagu-"

"_Shh!_" Hissing quietly at her sister as Kanna tried to say something, Kagura wasn't gonna hurt him! She just gingerly hooked her fingers under his and lifted slowly, coaxing his hand to let go of the plastic mirror so she could pinch the rim with her thumb and-

"So now you _steal_ from patients..." -almost jump out of her skin when the bastard growled at her. Kagura felt her spine try to tie itself in a knot with her still attached before his fingers finished twisting around and grasped her hand. Fuck, he'd scared her! What kind of ass-hole pretends to be asleep like that! ?

"It's not _stealing_, it's mine." She answered tightly, swallowing the startled shriek that had almost jumped up her throat. Kagura turned a scathing look on the hospital patient sitting in front of her, and noticed that Sesshoumaru's eyes looked like the rest of him: _dead._ The off-yellow iri were hidden almost all the way behind his heavy eye-lids, the green drowning in the amber light coming in through the window. It made his eyes look like gold: pure, straight-up gold. Damn him for looking pretty.

"You left it here."

"I _forgot_ it here. You have a creepy doctor."

"_Had._" Fine, he _had_ a creepy docto- what did he mean by that? "_Doctor_ Magatsuhi was not very good at his job." That guy had called himself a surgeon, hadn't he? Kagura felt her lips twisting around uncomfortably, an unwanted itch running down her back that made her move and shuffle her feet a little. Not her business, none of it was her business, and he was still holding her hand!

"The nurse downstairs said something about you being in the ICU."

"Mm." Was that a yes? His eyes were shut again, his head listing a little until the gauze on his cheek rustled against the papery sheets of the hospital bed. It woke him up again, an uncomfortable twitch crossing his face.

"Your mother's handiwork?" Still holding her hand, he was _still-_ Kagura felt her fingers close around his and then released the mirror into his greedy grip, Sesshoumaru offering the barest of nods to answer her question. His neck straightened up when she touched his face again, his skin a little clammy- worse than before, and obviously unwashed today. There was a sour scent around him too, something she assumed was coming from the wraps around his arm, and Kagura didn't take a deep breath in case she got a whiff of something else. For now, she tugged the pale skin just enough with her fingers to help the tape come away easily, ridding him of the unwanted dressing once again.

"You need to shave." Some guys looked good with stubble, others didn't. Sesshoumaru and his brother, plus Kagura's half-siblings, all had the mutation that made their hair turn silver and white at a young age without twisting it into fishing wire like normal greys did. It meant that none of them looked good with too much facial hair- except for Kanna and the baby, who didn't have any facial hair at all.

Balling the gauze up like she had the first time, Kagura tossed the dressing into the waste bin and looked back to see the man's deadpan expression. He was too tired to call her on the mock-criticism. She felt the urge to chuckle or laugh at him, but enough sympathy welled up that she calmed the reaction- and enough empathy not to let her feel pity.

"At least wash your face, you're all grimy." Not that he could get up and walk right now, "Kanna?" Kagura picked up one of the folded blue towels sitting on the bedside table. They were that odd hospital material: a mixture between cloth and paper. The little girl had been watching without comment- without _moving,_from her seat by the window, and hopped up as she was called. Kagura just pointed to the blue door she imagined had to lead to some sort of bathroom and let her sister go wet the rag down. Sesshoumaru was staring.

"Who was that?" He seemed more awake as he asked the question, like he'd been startled. The man on the bed turned his head just enough to make it look like he was trying to glance around at the bathroom door, but the angle was too harsh and he had to settle for just reclining back on his bed.

"My sister." Had he thought they were alone? Sesshoumaru's right hand slowly rose up and rubbed his forehead- jumping a little as his fingertips pressed down near the new scars on his face. The sweeping pink marks were probably still tender. The man pulled his hand away from his skin and frowned at his fingers, rubbing them together slowly and showcasing his disapproval of the texture.

Wait, if his hand was moving then that meant- where was the mirror? Kagura looked down into his lap and all she saw were tangled sheets.

"You _didn't_." He _had!_

"I see no reason to give it back." No reason? _None?_ "If you start going through my sheets, Miss Kaze, I _will_ have to summon the nurse." _Bastard._

"_Kagura._" She managed to turn her own name into a retort, taking the damp and wrung-out cloth from Kanna as the girl reappeared and held it out. "Her teachers call me _Miss Kaze_, it's stupid. Do I _look_ like a Miss Kaze to you?" He accepted the wet rag from her, and Kagura wanted to know why she hadn't just flung it at his face. Sesshoumaru patiently unfolded the rag in his smothered lap and brought it up to his face, rubbing down his forehead and eyes with some visible relief.

"Well you don't look like a-" When he moved his hand down however he opened one yellow eye and stopped talking, looking at Kanna where the girl had swung around and was standing to Kagura's right. He looked back up at her._"-Jakotsu_."

_...He noticed._

He noticed, and it shouldn't have made her as happy as it did. But he noticed and that made her happy, at least it did until he said: "Did you have someone do it for you?"

"I can do my own make-up _thank-you-very-much!_" What, did he think she'd gone to the department store clerk with a bunch of bottles and some brushes? That she'd sat in some cosmetologist's chair and twittered like a school-girl for an hour letting someone else paint her lips? Kagura felt heat crawling down her back as she balled up her fists, then pointed at him accusingly. "Now give me back my mirror!"

"No." Kanna drifted away from the bedside and went to go sit down again, her small silver cell-phone in hand.

"It's mine!"

"You left it here."

"I brought you your brother's stupid envelope."

"That's hardly a fair trade, I don't plan to read it."

This was set to go on for a very long, long time...

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><p><strong>However, this chapter really cannot get any longer, so I'm ending it here. Stay tuned for the next update.<strong>

**And since I killed the previous chapter that had a date attached to it, if anyone's curious this would be September 5th in-universe. I actually did sync up the dates with the 2011/12 calender, so I feel the need to point the date out here.**


	12. Filial Judgement

**Let Love In, Dismiss, The Key,**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Filial Judgement

When Kagura and Kanna got home, his elder sister followed her usual routine for a Saturday evening. She got Kanna to tidy up a little while she went through the freezer for something to cook, Hakudoshi looking up from the show he was watching on the couch to tell her what he'd already defrosted in the sink. His sister chirping something and asking him how his shift at WacDonalds had gone.

They were dumb questions, patterned responses, but about twenty minutes later he had a plate of fried noodles and veggies in his lap, along with some shrimp or chicken or whatever it was he'd pulled out or brought home after his shift. They ate and Kagura played with the baby for a bit, letting the nine-month-old babble to her about his day like he did with everyone. It was kinda cute, the kid would spout nonsense and Kagura would answer in an interested voice, then he'd garble back. If there was time after her shower she'd read him a book, otherwise it was just a cuddle and a bottle and then the TV went off for the night.

They needed a bigger apartment, and come to think of it, a bigger bed for the baby: he was too tall for that cradle now. Once Kagura was dressed for work and was out the door at eight, Hakudoshi knew he'd have to put his little brother _back_ in the crib at least twice before the kid would go to sleep.

But once Kagura was gone, and the baby dozing, and the left-overs put away, and Kanna had finished having her own shower, it was time to talk. Hakudoshi unfolded himself off the make-shift bed in the living room and went down the hall to Kanna's room, leaning on the door frame with his hands in his jean pockets.

Kanna's room was smaller than his, with the same white walls as the rest of the apartment and only one small window in the corner that looked down into an alley. Hakudoshi's looked out onto the street, where it was noisier. They needed a better apartment.

"Did she say yes?" But first, he needed to know what had happened today. In his pocket was a cell-phone filled with texts from Kanna, but the girl hadn't finished relaying everything to him. He watched his sister finish brushing her hair and place her coral pins in a small plastic box kept especially for them, then Kanna looked at him where she was sitting on her bed.

"She did."

"Who the hell is he?" The guy who'd asked Kagura out. Kanna had started texting him when he was at work, but he'd still read and answered anyways. He didn't know a lot though.

"A friend of her boss, he was at the hospital."

"Why'd you go there?"

"Kagura had to deliver something. An envelope from her boss." So was he like a doctor or something? "No, he was sleeping in a patient bed and Kagura took care of him." That's what nurses were for. "He looked really sick, so she teased him."

"Why's she going out with a hospital patient?" Kanna shook her head.

"He said he won't call her until he's better." Eh, he still didn't like it. Kagura had had boyfriends before, usually to piss their father off and give her someplace to go when she didn't want to come home. Hakudoshi didn't know what had happened to the last one after _that_ night though... Kagura had been making a lot of phone-calls and doing a lot of stuff, so maybe during everything she'd just told Toshu it was over. He hoped so, the guy had been obsessive and creepy.

"What're you doing?" Kanna had her phone in hand again, Hakudoshi stepping into the room as she cued something up and waved him over to the bed, then handed him the phone.

"_No._"

"_It's mine!"_

"_You left it here."_ What the hell was this? All he could see on the screen was a blue linoleum floor and Kanna's knees, but he could _hear:_

"_I brought you your brother's stupid envelope."_

"_That's hardly a fair trade, I don't plan to read it."_ She'd recorded their conversation? Hakudoshi could hear the man's voice clearly, it was deep and deliberate, coming through over the static of the phone's mic. He didn't sound like someone asking a girl out though, Hakudoshi saw it at school all the time: boys who couldn't finish their sentences and jibbered like idiots. It wasn't like dating was the most important thing in the world, but someone asking _his_ sister out shouldn't be so casual.

"_Fine, what _is_ a fair trade?"_

"_... Your number."_ What the hell kinda line was that! ? Hakudoshi almost shouted at the phone when he remembered that this was a recording, not a live feed. He was gripping the device hard enough to break it though, listening to some hospital-patient-guy use glib lines on his sister to get a date. And it sounded more like coercion anyways: what were they trading? Had this guy stolen something from his sister?

"_You're out of your mind. What makes you think I-?"_

"_You're just sending out that sort of message."_ Hakudoshi really hated the fact that Kanna hadn't been bold enough to lift the camera at any point so he could see the bastard's face. But why the hell was Kagura laughing? That hadn't been a joke, Kagura!

"_Really. And if I go and wash it all off, what then?"_ Wash what off?

"_Go ahead."_ The recording cut out, the screen darkening with the play and skip buttons reappearing on the tiny display.

"What were they talking about?" He handed the phone back to Kanna, annoyed as she started pushing buttons again, pausing to look up at him.

"Kagura wore make-up." Uh, so? She'd stopped that for a while after they moved here, but Kagura'd _always_ worn make up, and a lot of it too. At least when she did it on Kanna it looked alright, but he thought it just made the younger girl look like a doll. "She washed it off after he said that." And what were they trading for, anyways? "Kagura forgot my mirror when she saw him before, and he kept it."

"So it's the hospital's version of _'keep away'_." That was so stupid.

Kanna clicked another button and handed the phone back to him, Hakudoshi sitting down on the bed next to her and turning the volume up on the device. The same useless angle was on the screen, so he just tossed the thing on the bed for the audio to play.

"_There."_

"_I don't see a difference." _Was that a compliment?

"_You jerk!"_ Apparently not. _"Of course there's a difference! Now how desperate do you have to be to use a mirror to get a date?"_

"_You assume I'll ask you out after this."_

"_**What?**"_

"_By the time I'm released from this place I may have forgotten all about you, or lost interest. Or I may already have a girlfriend- did you even consider that, Miss Kaze?"_

"_**Kagura.**" _His sister's recorded voice sounded irritated, but where Hakudoshi expected Kagura to keep speaking, there was only the drum of footsteps before a zipper was undone. Paper crackled through the phone's speaker as the silence stretched, then the footsteps started again. "_There. Now hand it over."_

"..._No._"

"_You **ass**, you just said-"_

"If I keep the mirror, then perhaps I won't forget to call."

"_You'd better not." _Kagura's voice was pitched too low after that for the phone to pick up, but there was a deep sound that answered her; was that what his laugh sounded like? "_Kanna-"_ The second recording ended, and this time when Kanna picked up her phone she just closed it, placing the silver electronic down on her night-table. Hakudoshi spoke first.

"I don't like him." He sounded like a jerk and the white-haired teen didn't like the way the guy spoke to his sister.

"He makes her smile." But Kanna's soft-spoken words carried a bit more faith, and he knew she was watching the side of his face. Hakudoshi was too busy glaring at the wall, ankles crossed and long legs stretched out to the floor, he was leaning back with his hands sunken into Kanna's bedding. "But he might not call."

"He will." His sister had laughed in the recording, Kanna said she took care of him. He sounded like a jerk, but his sister sounded like she liked him. "He'd better."

Kagura should smile more.

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><p><strong>*dances to the Goo Goo Dolls*<strong>

**Now I'm bangin' on the door of an angel; the end of fear is where we begin. The moment we decided to let love in~**

**Shut up it fits the story. **

**And I forgot that this was supposed to be a double-update, so at a decent hour later today I'll get that up.**

**It is can be review time now please?**


	13. Koga, September 5th

**Same as chapter 13.**

**And GRAH, I said I'd post this later, then my finger slipped and I posted chapter 12 like four minutes before midnight. I hate that. HAAATE that. So this will make it better!**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Koga: September 5th

It's Monday and the station isn't as loud as it could be. It's the worst time to run an illegal background check on someone.

Koga knows he could get in some seriously hot water if he's caught doing stupid shit with public funds. To make himself feel better, he's decided he hates Americans, all Americans, especially half-Japanese Americans. And of the many millions of Japanese-Americans and American-Japanese in the world, Koga hates the sentimental bleeding heart kinds the most. And out of all the bleeding hearts the one that belongs in the body of Inuyasha Charlston-Taishou is the one he hates the absolute most of all. He hates him because the man is a sentimental bleeding heart that has too much dirt (and a considerable bar tab) on Koga that could make his next promotion a lost dream if he doesn't comply with the club-owners stupid demands.

Yes, they do back-ground checks on unsuspecting people all the time down at the station, do you know _why?_ Because those unsuspecting persons are usually _suspects_ in something. They might be involved in a murder investigation, or fraud, or a conspiracy, or something dark and sinister like that. They aren't just deeply personal people who want their boss to have nothing to do with their personal lives. They're people leaning so far over the edge of the law that they've forfeited certain rights to privacy and respect and have unknowingly invited the law into their living room.

Of course, he's got the paperwork from Inuyasha stating that he's _requesting_ the possible criminal record because he's her employer, but that paperwork is sadly missing the signature of one Kagura Kaze, so this is completely illegal. Koga doesn't wanna do it, Koga doesn't wanna lose his job, Koga also doesn't wanna shoot one of his best friends for getting him suspended or _worse_ for running an illegal check on someone.

But he also doesn't want the drunk-off-his-ass pictures of Koga doing very (very) stupid shit thrown up over the internet from Inuyasha's birthday last December, because he'll absolutely never see another promotion again if those become part of the public domain. He'll also have to explain to his boss why the _woman_ he was doing that very (_very_) stupid shit with was _not_ Ayame.

Koga is in a very, very bad place right now.

The only saving grace here is that Koga is currently alone in his misery. Ginta and Hakkaku aren't talking to one another where the three of them have their desks pushed together in their little portion of the station floor. Apparently they were both being two-timed by the same chick and _just_ found out about it.

With them both so distracted, the detective could probably hand the check off to one of them and they'd be too broken-hearted and betrayed inside to notice that the name has nothing to do with their current case-load. But Koga puts it off. He _really_ doesn't wanna end up on probation just so Inuyasha can scratch an itchy nose. Or a nosey itch. Whatever.

So he's cleaning out his desk instead. Checking old cases and prepping files to be sealed and stored like everything else that goes through a law enforcement office ought to be. It's good, menial work that makes him look productive and keeps Koga too busy to get himself fired.

There's autumn sunlight filtering in through the station's tall windows, the pea-green walls aren't attractive looking at all, but the last thing the department is really worried about is spending money on nice interior decorating. Still, it's the kind of day outside that makes you really zonk out while trying to read the old reports on your desk to make sure everything about the closed case is just that: closed. Shut. Sealed. Done.

So that's why it takes Koga three do-overs before he recognizes the name _'Onigumo'_ repeating itself four times on the papers in front of him, with a _'Kaze'_ there in the middle to break up the bunch. Hot damn, he's not getting fired!

_'I worked on this case! That's why I knew it!'_ Yes! No illegal searches! No uncouth snooping around in some unsuspecting woman's past! No getting fired by his girlfriend's grandpa! This is a good day for Koga, the kind of good that means he'll probably call Ayame up once his shift's a bit closer to ending so they can go out for dinner or something. Or a movie, or just go straight to his or her place for the night and, _y'know...!_ It's a good day for Koga!

Until he actually starts _reading_ the reports he filled out just over nine months . Yeah, he remembers this case. It's kinda sick that it gets blurred in with all the other domestic murders and 9-1-1 calls, all the other crying kids and young women who have to sit in a cold steel chair and go back over their assault, or their rape. Something as bad as those stories should stick, not blur to the point where Koga can't remember which nice guys get a little angry when they drink versus the ones who don't know what to do when the baby won't stop crying.

He remembers this case because the girl wasn't the one her dad took the knife too, but she's the one who got saddled with two kids and a baby after he got thrown in the clink. Koga wasn't there on the scene until after the dad had been put in cuffs and stuffed in the back of a cruiser, he just saw the mother's body and the blood on the boy- blood someone helped him wash off before they came down to the station. Koga just processed them, he'd been extra hands on a busy night.

But he processed them, Koga was the one to write up the final report along with the guy from child-services. This gives Koga the authority to check a few numbers and pick up the phone on his desk, dialling carefully and making sure he knows what he's gonna say as he bugs a couple people in different parts of the law-enforcement web. There's his buddy down in parole, who thinks it's a funny request but pulls Onigumo's file.

"_Guy's got another six years coming, but he can get it down to two if he qualifies for good behaviour."_ That self-reform shit is also part of it, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, community service. Koga checks the file again and confirms that, yeah, there were no marks on the kids. The older girl had a few bruises, and the older boy a couple cuts thanks to the fight that night, but nothing chronic. Their dad'll probably qualify for parole in two years.

That call done, Koga sits at his desk thinking for a few minutes, then picks the phone up again and calls up the guy from child-services: Akitoki Hojo. His card's still in the file, so Koga's within his rights to call.

"...I'm doing some follow-up on the _Kaze-Onigumo_ case from last December."

"_Is something the matter? One sec, just let me pull that file up."_ One sec, ten minutes, same thing. _"Ah, yes. Our last visit to the Kaze-Onigumo residence was a few weeks ago, the children seem to be adjusting well."_

"And the care-giver, she hasn't been skipping steps or avoiding things, has she?"

"_You mean like counselling sessions? The two older children attended every appointment, and the infant's up to date on all of his shots and vaccinations."_ And what about the care-giver herself? _"Uuh... no, actually. I don't think Miss Kaze ever... she signed the log whenever the kids went in, but I don't see anything here about her own sessions._"

_Shiiit._

"Okay, Hojo, off the record- don't you spill and let anyone know I told you this." Koga drops his voice down, lowering his head a little as he starts going through one of his office drawers, pretending to search for a file or a wayward slip of paper. "Rumour has it their dad's gonna be clear for parole in another eighteen to twenty months." Hojo's dead silent on the other end, but Koga can hear the man breathing. "Maybe he'll come out singing daisy, or maybe he won't, but that baby'll only be three years old."

"_Miss Kaze's record_- _**off the record**... is clean. She's just missing a few-_" Yeah, Hojo isn't supposed to share stuff like that. Koga isn't supposed to give parole details.

"Hojo, it's your job to make sure those kids stay in whichever home is best for them, and it's mine to make sure that everybody stays safe while that happens. Fill up those _missing_ holes on your end and I'll get to work figuring out who the government wants to let out."

"_Should I open a formal case-file?"_

"Not yet, but soon."

Koga and Hojo hang up at the same time, and the detective is left sitting at his half-cleaned desk with his two rookie partners trying to out-do one another at filing, stacking, and stamping paperwork. Oblivious.

What Koga's just done is a blatant conflict of interest. It's textbook C-o-I. He knows what the reports say about the murder, and he knows what they say about the abuse the wife took. He knows she suffered two miscarriages that had '_shared but unspecified'_ causes, he doesn't have any proof that those causes were chairs and fists and rage, just a feeling. A really strong, really bad feeling.

But it's the kind of feeling he has to control, because he has a two-year dead-line to work with right now and a mound of legitimately closed cases to re-file and send off to the archives. He can't get any work done with this place a complete mess. And he can't treat this hunch and some leads like a legitimate case right now. He can't call the girl in the middle of this and tell her what he knows; she'll freak out and bolt. Any sensible person would, especially if a seven-year time-line got chopped down to only three, now two.

What Koga does is focus on finishing the menial task he assigned himself that morning, keeping the _Kaze-Onigumo_ case aside by stuffing it into his bag. It's his fucking case, he's allowed to fucking take it home to study. Maybe he won't call Ayame tonight, or maybe he will and they'll just talk or something instead of going out. Or maybe he won't. He doesn't know, right now he's not in the mood to make a lot of plans.

Except that tomorrow, Koga knows he's gonna make some calls to Mount Hakurei.

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><p><strong>DUN-DUN-DUN...<strong>

**And this is why I made Koga a cop, not a bouncer. 'fraid we won't be seeing much of him at all for a while though.**

**Next chapter is Sessho! See you Friday!**


	14. Date Night

**Let Love In, Not Strong Enough, Tomorrow, Reflection, Everything Tonight, On the Floor.**

**We're going back in time a little bit this chapter for Sesshoumaru, but it didn't seem right to give all his experiences right away when we were still chewing through Kagura's. Hopefully people won't be too confused.**

**Love this chapter, it took a along time to get done, but I love it. 3**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Date Night

The Demon-Fighting club, the Tokijin, had originally not been scheduled to open until December of next year. Sesshoumaru had imagined it as a hole-in-the-wall, the sort of place where a slightly younger, under-paid crowd would gather than the ones who drove all the way out to the Tetseiga. It wasn't in the best area, and it wasn't the largest or prettiest piece of real-estate, but he'd learned from his father and invested in the property anyways.

Then the Will happened. Sesshoumaru had found himself suddenly living on his savings once the Tetseiga's cash-flow was re-directed into his half-brother's name, and the business accounts were signed over to Inuyasha weeks before his mother had even been told about the surprise switch. He hadn't wanted her involved in that horrible affair, he'd wanted it over with, done, finished. It wasn't the legality of it that made Sesshoumaru hand over seven years of his life, it was the principle of what his father had wanted. He wasn't going to steal from Inuyasha to make his living.

Sesshoumaru just spent the next eight months after the Tetseiga changed hands trying to get the Tokijin on its feet as soon as possible. He hadn't been able to wait until next winter, it almost got to the point where he either had to sell his condo or the club, so any jobs that conflicted with one another simply didn't happen. The Tokijin didn't get the new flooring he'd wanted, he didn't put up a new wall where it had been planned. The kitchen appliances were not upgraded, the menu prepared by the kitchen was typical bar fare, nothing substantial. Everything was rushed and he had them simply paint everything black and throw coloured paint around so it would glow under the black lights.

Tokijin had opened two months before his car accident- six months ahead of schedule, and it had been an instant train wreck. His manager had lied to him: the staff weren't trained, they had no idea what they were doing. There was a brawl on the floor the first night they opened, the fight spreading the _wrong_ reputation about the place and attracting a seedier breed than Sesshoumaru could tolerate under his roof- but if he didn't let them in to pay cover and buy drinks then he wouldn't _have _a roof. There were prostitutes sitting at his bar, and when he told that bastard Kaijinbo to get rid of them he'd come back an hour later and find the manager flirting with the women instead of turning their kind out.

Sesshoumaru hadn't spoken to anyone for eight months. He'd been neck-deep in the search for a proper floor manager when Jakotsu had grown bold enough to actually come by his condo and jibber at him until he agreed to come see a new dancer at the Tetseiga. It had shut the man up. It had given Sesshoumaru one precious hour of freedom from the cesspool of the Tokijin and the anxiety of creditors.

So he'd driven to the Tetseiga on a Tuesday afternoon, and spent the next two months in hospital.

* * *

><p>Malpractice wasn't the sort of accusation to make lightly. It wasn't the same as disputing a parking ticket, or opening your books for an audit. Malpractice could easily destroy the career of the individual charged, not to mention damaging the reputation of the institute where they practised. Malpractice was something, morally, that you had to be sure about.<p>

Sesshoumaru couldn't use his left arm. He was very, very sure.

Upon his release from the hospital, he had no time to oversee the case himself; this was where his mother entered into the equation, or at least it was when she became useful. She had sensed the lawsuit the moment the new doctor, Suikotsu, had entered the room to speak with them. Given what the surgeon had had to say, Sesshoumaru had taken no issue with his mother's rabid interest in taking on the high-profile case so long as it didn't take up too much of his precious time.

Sesshoumaru couldn't remember which surgery had changed the tone of his extended stay in the hospital. All he knew was that the last time he was sure he'd been able to feel his left hand had been in the final instant before his memory went blank and blocked out the crash. He remembered absolutely nothing of the impact itself, just the hideous pain of being trapped inside the wreck- and even that was just a blur of noise and heat.

But there were charts and graphs and tests which confirmed that he had possessed nerve connectivity in all five of his fingers. Had. It was gone now. Everything from the elbow down was gone. Physically, it was still there; his fingers, his nails, his wrist, even the hair on his forearm was still there. If he touched the limb then it was warm because his heart was still pumping blood through veins that were still there, but he couldn't feel it, because it was gone. From his elbow down, the nerves in Sesshoumaru's left arm had died.

Or rather, been cut. In a surgery dealing with his wrist and fingers, the doctor had cut into his shoulder. Why? Well, that was what the lawsuit was meant to find out.

As soon as the hospital realized what had happened he had been rushed back under the knife- Suikotsu's knife this time, not Magatsuhi's. The new surgeon had done what he could to repair and line-up that vital connection in his body's wiring, but nerves were fickle things. Sesshoumaru was given maybes and chances, percentages and likelihoods, and a strong dose of reality that told him what the sickeningly kind man had really been saying: his arm was gone.

So his mother was filing a malpractice suit in his name, and Sesshoumaru would appear in court and give testimony when he was summoned, and she would destroy Magatsuhi's career, and that was going to make things better. Money was going to make up for the fact that-

He couldn't use a knife.

He couldn't type properly.

He couldn't carry something and open a door at the same time.

It took him twice as long to get dressed now.

It took him twice as long to do anything now.

But when he talked to his mother she said money was going to make up for all of that.

Sesshoumaru stopped talking to his mother.

* * *

><p>Once he was cleared to drive again- but only in an automatic now, he couldn't legally control a standard without a hand to hold the wheel while shifting gears- Sesshoumaru drove past the Tokijin. That was all he did. He just coasted by in the dark and kept going, not stopping. He'd called Jaken a few times while still in the hospital, kept a close enough eye on his finances to know what was going on. Whatever Kaijinbo was stealing from him, it wasn't enough to warrant firing the man before Sesshoumaru was capable of properly taking control of the Tokijin and fixing the myriad of problems inside. His cesspool had grown into a swamp, but that swamp was making money, and money was still what Sesshoumaru needed right now.<p>

Well, that, and someone to talk to.

Which was why the night he drove by the skanky club was the same one where he went home and rifled through the half-unpacked bag of belongings from the hospital. He emptied the bag before remembering that he hadn't packed them in there, locating the jacket he'd worn where it was still flung over the arm of a chair.

Sesshoumaru didn't know what was so important about the tiny mirror he'd taken hostage, but he treated the plastic disk gingerly as he weighed it in his palm, then slipped it inside the sling around his numb arm. He wouldn't lose it there, the weight of the limb would keep it in place. Next from the pocket was what he'd been looking for; the little slip of paper with an angry set of numbers scratched in blue ink.

He'd let it lie the entire time he'd remained in the hospital, a good week after her second visit, and he'd been out for another seven or eight days before tonight. Glancing at the clock, it was a Friday night so that meant she was working- actually, it was a Saturday morning, two am, which meant she was just finishing up at the club. He'd know, he'd set the original schedules for the Tetseiga's dancers.

Sesshoumaru could have waited until tomorrow to sit down on the couch and call her, it would probably be a better idea than trying at such a late hour... But tomorrow he had to pound the pavement and get a handle on what was going on at that rat's nest the Tokijin. He needed a new floor manager, he needed to get Jaken in there and sort out the mess that Kaijinbo was making of _everything_. He'd need his mind sharp and ready in case the filthy leech decided to act out and make things difficult; parasites always bit their hardest when they knew they were going to lose.

He needed something to look forward to after all of that. Talk to someone who didn't talk to him about work or money.

So he called her.

* * *

><p>It took convincing, but not <em>coercion<em>, to get Kagura to agree. The entire call had made it sound like someone else was talking to her at the same time, and he'd heard noise in the background, sure, but no one speaking close by. He found it odd that she paused and stumbled with her words a few times, not sure if it was a result of her being tired, or perhaps he'd picked a bad time. Or maybe she just wasn't as confident and care-free as she'd made herself seem. This would disappoint him if it were true; Sesshoumaru didn't want to take out a girl who wasn't as sharp as he'd originally thought.

The call left him with mixed feelings, but she'd agreed to go and he'd accepted two arbitrary restrictions: she wasn't going to drink, and he was going to have her home by eleven. The arrangement felt suspiciously like something from his high school years. Perhaps it had been her parents listening in from across the room, but if they allowed their daughter to dance in a _club_... They agreed that he would pick her up at seven that Monday.

Most people started their work week on the Monday, but Kagura was a club dancer and Sesshoumaru was a bar owner: they operated on a different schedule. Mondays were terrible for night clubs, in their world, Monday was date night.

A bad feeling crept into him again when Sesshoumaru realized that his date's apartment was only a stone's throw from the Tokijin, but he made himself accept the poison and burn through it. If it was an omen, fine, he didn't care, and at least Kagura had the sense to wait inside the locked doors of the building's lobby until he pulled up. There was a light inside, and he could see her through the grated window, pacing. At least if she lived in this area, she knew better than to stand outside on the street. He didn't turn the engine off when he pulled up, but he did flick on the interior light.

Even when she saw him and started walking out, Sesshoumaru couldn't figure out the one curious detail about her appearance: was she wearing make-up? It was a petty joke, hardly worth the smile he fought to keep down, but he found himself curious none-the-less. It could wait though, watching Kagura open the passenger side door and slip down into the sedan.

"Nice car." The words were off-hand and probably genuine, but Sesshoumaru bit his tongue before he could respond. He hated this car. _His_ car had been totalled in the crash and was now nothing but a lump of twisted metal under a spray of shattered fibre-glass, but the sedan he was driving now felt like a bus. He hated the steering, he hated the seats, he hated the dashboard, he hated the wipers and the tires and the roof. He even hated the colour. It wore the same silver paint as the _Ah-Un_, but he hated it on this car. It was not his car, he was driving it, but it was not _his._

"Are you hungry?" And he hated the transmission most of all, because only a few days of driving still hadn't adjusted him to there not being a gear-shift where a gear-shift should be. Sesshoumaru shifted reflexively in his seat only to realize that there was no need for him to do so, the engine wasn't his to control, a computer was going to do his job instead.

"This is a _date_, isn't it?" At least the quip from the woman next to him took his mind off the immediate short-comings of the vehicle. Sesshoumaru pulled away from the curb as they drove off to find a main street, glancing at his date once he knew precisely where he was within the city.

"I made a reservation." It was October, it was autumn, and it was getting cold, but she seemed determined to remember what summer was like. Kagura was wearing a white sun-dress, something that came down to her knees where her slender legs were crossed. The fabric was patterned with something he couldn't make out as he drove, splashes of amber, orange and yellow with black ink-markings painting the actual pictures. It was probably fruit, or flowers or something. A jean jacket? And her purse was just a little black clutch with a chain over her shoulder.

"Really?" He glanced from the road back to her. She was sneering out the front window, one hand up and combing through the tangled fall of her hair. He hadn't seen her wear it like that before; in a tail along the side of her head, the red-black strands tumbling down over her shoulder. "Here I thought you owned half the clubs, bars and restaurants in Tokyo."

"Is that why you agreed to come?" Because she thought he was drowning in money? He didn't need to see Kagura's face to know she was giving him a nasty look.

"No, I agreed because-" _Right._ Her words dribbled to a stop as he lifted his knee just enough to steady the wheel, taking his hand off to feel under his lame arm where it was resting in its sling under his jacket. He'd dressed casually, much like her except in a darker pallet- and no jean jacket. His pants and jacket were black, the wool layer worn properly on the right side but just slung over his left shoulder, obscuring the sight of his left arm. A blue shirt and no tie finished his outfit, and he tossed the little plastic mirror into Kagura's lap so he could get back to driving.

A few more seconds of driving passed and he noticed she still hadn't finished her statement, she hadn't even tucked the mirror away someplace where he'd _never_ find it again. Finally:

"Don't do that again." Hmph. Drive without hands? Any idiot with an ounce of skill could- "Don't play with my life, Sesshoumaru." Now that was odd.

Play with her life? He excused the fact that they were driving, at night, against the tail-end of the usual Monday rush-hour. He'd have to purposefully not turn the wheel across two adjacent lanes before they'd reach the nearest hazard. It wasn't the genuine fear of an accident that spurred the comment, but something else. Maybe he knew what it was, but it was far too soon to go making such wild assumptions.

"So the first time you use my name is to scold me, Miss Kagura?"

"And the first time you _almost_ use mine is to mock me?" Her reaction amused him, but he wasn't quite sure whether she found the conversation as appealing, at least not until: "Asshole..." And she tucked her mirror away inside her purse.

"You seem to enjoy insulting me."

"You're easy to insult, everyone's either afraid of or in awe of you." Was that so? "You didn't know? If you told Jakotsu silk flowers were in style he'd weave a dress from them."

"Jakotsu is a poor example for any argument." Her chuckle was something low, buried deep in the back of her throat.

"So are we going to that Heaven place then?" Heaven place? "Heavenly... grace, heavenly spirit, something like that?" He didn't know what she- "The restaurant you own!" -_oh._

"Heavenly Life, and no." _Tenseiga_. He'd burn it down if he could. And he didn't own it either; he'd thought he did, but that had been secretly _conditional._..

"Ah, so that's where you just take the _special_ girls then." No.

"Only the ones I don't like."

"Really? What's wrong with it?" _Everything._ But there was a laugh that chased down her words, her mood always something prone to change: like the wind down at the beach. "Not even worth complaining about?" No, he wasn't going to describe that useless money pit. "... Three hundred yen says I can find at least _three_ good things about it if we go there."

He glanced at her again, noting the restaurant with their reservation creeping into view. Urasue's was a restaurant where a large bill and a bigger tip were expected, the ambiance and over-all presentation of the food more important than the actual tastes of the evening.

Tenseiga would be three hundred yen in his pocket. Cancelling the reservation was worth it just to hear his date's reaction to his foot slamming first the accelerator and then the break to whip them around an unexpected corner.

"_You one-armed son of a bitch that's not funny don't you __**dare**__ laugh at me you crass insensitive-!_" Actually, it was _quite_ funny.

"Stop screaming like a whore and cancel our reservation." He interrupted her without allowing the laugh to creep into his voice. The woman stopped yelling at him though, folding her arms tightly until he added: "Unless you'd rather I dial their number and drive at the same time."

"Fuck you, where's your phone?" It was in his jacket pocket, which meant she had to stretch and reach to find it, warning him in a low voice not to make any jokes. Of course, the challenge meant he had to make at least one comment.

"Most women wait for a red light before they-"

"One more word and we _will_ crash."

The temptation was there, but not if it meant ending the evening trapped in another baby-blue room.

* * *

><p>"...I just don't get it." He'd warned her. "I had a fruit salad. How on <em>earth<em> did they-"

"I quite enjoyed the spider incident, myself."

"Oh, don't you _even!_" Apparently his date was horrified of spiders. Thankfully, Sesshoumaru had not required two hands in order to vanquish the interloper that had descended from the lampshade suspended over their table. He had ordered bottled water for himself, and only after failing to convince her that he wasn't being snobbish had Sesshoumaru allowed Kagura to try drinking the tap water most restaurants served.

However, most restaurants weren't too much older than their occupants, and if they were, then the owners had invested in new plumbing since construction. Most restaurants are not the Tenseiga, and therefore Sesshoumaru had allowed her to share the bottle with him. Thankfully she had heeded his warning regarding all of the fish entrees, which was more or less all of the menu, and they had suffered with poorly made re-heated rice and cooked-to-death vegetables.

"Even _I_ can make rice." He had waited on baited breath all evening to hear her scrounge together three positives in the wake of sticky carpets and suspicious ceiling stains. When she excused herself to go to the washroom Sesshoumaru reigned in the temptation to ask, upon her return, why she looked so pale. "Get the cheque. And stop _smiling._" At that point, impossible.

He tipped the service three-hundred yen, but only shared this information once they were in the parking lot. Kagura, on principle, almost made him go back inside to get it back. Sesshoumaru, on principle, struggled to control just _how much fun_ he was having at her expense. He found her temper wildly amusing.

"Where to next?" They had been driving for about ten minutes when Kagura asked this question, her arms folded after another round of insults and jabs.

"The art gallery." She stared at him.

"_Why?_" Sesshoumaru blinked, but maintained control of the vehicle to his date's satisfaction as he considered his response. The usual reaction to words like _'Gallery'_ and _'Event'_ were nervous laughter and a blatant attempt to make up for a complete lack of artistic background. Of course, Sesshoumaru also lacked any sort of artistic training, and had relatively little appreciation for the abstract, but she intrigued him.

"It is my understanding that people simply go to the art gallery."

"Because it's the art gallery?" Precisely. "Eh, alright..." Her voice fell flat. Sesshoumaru looked away from the road (only to be pointed back by her hand) and saw her with her elbow resting on her door, hand holding the side of her head at a bored angle. Well that was no fun at all.

"Would you prefer a movie?"

"I do a lot of dancing, and I watch a _lot _of movies..." At least she looked at him as she answered, their eyes both going to the clock on his dashboard right after. Eight-thirty, an hour and a half gone already, and Sesshoumaru decided he didn't find the idea of sitting someplace in silence very appealing either.

"I rarely dance and don't spend much time sitting around."

"Sports?" He set his jaw, that was not a tasteful quest- "You don't need two hands to run track, or play soccer or something." While that was true, he still didn't appreciate the comment.

"Work. I'm usually driving through the city." She made an interested sound next to him, and Sesshoumaru put his concerns aside as his date brightened up again. It was difficult for him to anticipate her reaction to things.

"So you probably know all the sights then, don't you?" He considered that for a moment. Sesshoumaru's errands were typically to meet with contractors and entrepreneurs like himself, but the latter kind usually didn't want to meet inside offices or too close to either party's home field: neutral territories were best, public places, open forums... Land marks that any idiot thinking of Tokyo would recognize.

"I suppose so. Do you like to walk?"

"With you? I'm not convinced." Hmph. Sesshoumaru didn't smile, but he did switch lanes and begin planning a course in his mind.

He knew the city at night, and it surprised him that with the way she looked out the window and both laughed and brushed off his comments, Kagura didn't know it nearly as well. Of course, he had grown up in one of Tokyo's most expensive districts and had been enrolled in private schools that had sent him back and forth across the city every day. She admitted to having lived quite a ways from the core, she'd only moved to her current place a few months ago?

"Half a year, a bit more I guess." She guessed? But that thread of the conversation was cut short by her lack of interest. Her voice went dull and her attention waned, Sesshoumaru's intrigue fading at the same time. When he played with the wheel and made the engine roar through a green light she shrieked again, and then the insults began to fly freely once more.

"Since you think you could do better, will we be taking your car next time?"

"_No!_" No to her driving, or no next time? "What? I-" Sesshoumaru didn't laugh, but he did allow himself to smile. It was not easy to render this woman speechless, so he felt quite smug watching her mouth open and close uselessly for a few moments. Then he asked:

"You don't know how to drive, do you?"

"No..." He'd thought not. They were on their way back to her place by then, the same place he'd picked her up from.

Not having a car was one thing, but not knowing how to physically drive was something that set off a familiar string of bells which Sesshoumaru found himself hesitant to listen to. She lacked an important skill, she was restricted to using trains and buses to get around, she would always be inconvenienced to go _anywhere_ unless someone could drive her. These were negative qualities, things he should have been concerned with distancing himself from.

"Do you want to try?" But Sesshoumaru didn't care enough to listen.

He pulled into the same spot in front of her building where he'd picked her up, the green digital numbers on the dashboard reading ten-fifty-five. There was no harm in not drinking the Tenseiga's wine, but Sesshoumaru wasn't quite sure what to think about the time-limit. It didn't matter though; Kagura was already undoing her seat-belt next to him, she didn't intend to stay.

"_Next time._" What happened next was fluid and natural, Sesshoumaru almost didn't notice the hand on the side of his face until he felt Kagura's lips touch his cheek. He could _not_ remember the last time he had been kissed on the cheek: it was that same blend of insult and intrigue that kept him thinking about her after her first visit to the hospital.

Catching her chin with his finger was not difficult, but kissing a woman who felt willing but surprised required a great deal more skill. She didn't pull away as soon as there was a break though, the two of them leaning over uncomfortably in the front seats, lips hovering over one another for a moment. His thumb grazed her chin, confirming what his tongue had told him.

"You _are_ wearing make-up."

Kagura yelled and called him petty names, then with another kiss she was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>There, I had to come back and finish this chapter after moving on, I was all the way to like 22 or something and hadn't finished the first date xD.<strong>


	15. Sesshoumaru, October 24th

**Tomorrow, Let Love In, No More Words, Not Strong Enough, Crawling.**

**This chapter was originally titled "The Eleventh Hour". In terms of reviews ('cause it's been mentioned a few times) Sunny's more interested in following her monthly hits than her reviews, just because they're more reliable. Don't get me wrong! I LOVE reviews, and they help attract MORE READERS, which Sunny LOVES, but in terms of making me happy/wangst the rule of thumb is more or less Chapters = Reviews. If I'm on chapter 20 and I have 16 reviews, Sunny will be a sad panda. If I have chapter 15 and I have 15 reviews, Sunny's pretty chill. **

**6 chapters of this story don't have reviews, but I've got 31 chapters written, so I'm posting them regardless of reader input. It's chapters 32 and on that you gotta worry about. Speaking of which:**

**For those of you reading both TC and To Make Things Right (And I know you're out there!), please have a gander down at my ending AN! It is very long, but not an ultimatum for more reviews.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Sesshoumaru: October 24th

After five dates, Sesshoumaru has never taken Kagura back to his apartment. After five dates, Sesshoumaru has never been invited up to hers for coffee. Sesshoumaru isn't even completely sure which apartment is hers, because only once has he tried getting out of his car to read the panel and buzz her- and she appeared in the lobby window before he was even half-way there.

Five dates with Kagura has also taken five weeks to accomplish, because his girlfriend will only see him on Mondays. Sesshoumaru knows he could stop by the Tetseiga and see her, say, when she's working, or after rehearsals, but going to the Tetseiga carries the risk of seeing Inuyasha, which Sesshoumaru is unwilling to do.

He does not want to see Inuyasha again for the foreseeable future, he does not want another scene with his half-brother. Sesshoumaru has read the contents of that envelope Kagura delivered to him. He knows that because of it he and Inuyasha cannot hope to speak peaceably again until the papers have either been signed or burned, and right now he can't manage to do either.

Besides, it occurs to him that he also doesn't want to embarrass his girlfriend by showing up at her place of work. Estranged or not, she's still dating her boss's elder brother.

Sesshoumaru is a patient man, and more importantly he is a very busy one. Kaijinbo is long gone from the Tokijin but the sleazy location and seedy clientele just keep giving him more and more trouble. His frustration with his poor investment and wretched luck are the driving forces behind his growing frustration with Kagura. With the exception of the occasional tease about the Tenseiga and its _memorable_ service, or the infrequent bet, Kagura is one of the few women he has ever known who refuses to discuss business or money with him. And she also won't see him.

Something he finds so intriguing is the fact that she is not _ignorant_ of these real-world subjects. Kagura has once or twice gone on a rant about the management issues at other jobs she's worked, and once even called him to vent about a lousy decision Inuyasha concerning time off and vacations. Of course, her testimony is always completely biased, but as her boyfriend Sesshoumaru is not to criticize her judgement of idiot bosses or stupid DJs: he tried that once. He will not do so again.

Kagura does not read business papers, she doesn't understand financial terminology, but when explained in layman's terms it sometimes surprises him how intelligently she can converse on such matters. His woman understands money. His woman understands business and management, but she refuses to discuss these things with him. She does this either because they bore her or she knows it's what everyone else, all day, ever wants to talk to him about. With Kagura he can talk about anything that isn't money or management, and he's beginning to need that.

He's beginning to need _her._

This brings up the strangest facet of their relationship, because Sesshoumaru is beginning to need her, and he's beginning to want in a way that frustrates him, but this desire, this frustration, feels mutual. When she calls him in the middle of the day when he knows she's off work and they just talk on the phone for an hour, he gets that sense. When he just takes his phone and stands on the balcony of his high-rise condominium, or detours from where-ever he was driving and goes to a park or a museum or someplace around the city and talks to her through the air, he knows she wants to be there.

And the conversation is not sick and dovey. He has never heard her simper or whine or go to pieces, and there's no waxing of poetry or flattering memories. And she doesn't tease him either, never moans into the receiver or flirts in a voice that isn't making obvious _fun_ of the fact that she's flirting. But there's no invitation. Kagura might ask where he is at the time but she never says where she's calling from- but he knows she's at home. She's always at home or at work, never anyplace else. Sesshoumaru doesn't know any of her friends, and the rare times she talks about herself, she never mentions any except Jakotsu, or maybe Bankotsu, or Abi or Yura, but those are all people who work at the club. He's beginning to think he's the only person she knows outside of work and that apartment.

He brought this up on their fifth date, a week ago.

"How old is your sister?" It was something he felt he should ask in-person. It was a discussion for them to have facing one another.

"Kanna? Oh, she's eleven. Twelve on the 25th- next Tuesday?"

He waited for it. Afterwards Sesshoumaru was frustrated with himself for caring that much, but he waited for it. He waited for the invitation, the opening where she'd crack the window and let some air into that apartment she was always shut up inside. He waited for her smile to change just-so and her eyes to take on that dangerous little glint, expecting at any moment to hear the words _"Wanna come?"_ slide off her tongue; a dare, a threat, and a joke all wrapped up in one. Did Sesshoumaru want to go to a twelve-year-old's birthday party?

No. But seeing Kagura on a Tuesday would have been nice. He had to settle for confirming their next Monday-night date and driving her back to her apartment at ten-thirty.

Which just confused him even more, because he was bringing her back a full thirty minutes before her curfew actually kicked in. Not because Kagura wanted their date to end, but for the exact opposite. A sudden, gutsy kiss the first time had been memorable, like another little joke. The second date he'd mis-timed how long it would take them to get to the apartment and they'd arrived ten minutes from the hour. She'd stared at the clock like it would attack them until he pulled her chin around and gave her a short good night kiss.

For the next two minutes he'd had his hand behind her head, lips over hers as her touch skated along his throat and jaw. Kagura had begun making all the right sounds, even started tugging on his shirt and jacket like she wanted to crawl into his lap- and then the _literal_ eleventh hour struck and she was gone. She'd fixed her hair with one hand as she scrambled out of the vehicle, leaving a confused Sesshoumaru sitting in his car, surprised to learn that she'd been wearing lipstick the entire night.

By the infamous fifth date he knew it wasn't his arm, because by then she had been bold enough to ask him about it just as he had been about her sister. He exercised the limb as per the doctor's orders, because the consequences included the arm's muscles physically withering away from atrophy. It was bad enough that he was carrying around a useless limb, he wasn't going to let it degenerate down to a skeleton.

She had him take it out of the sling while they enjoyed their time at a very quiet restaurant high in the Tokyo skyline, a place that was all red velvet and faux diamond. She asked him where the sensation stopped and he let her hand move up and down his bicep until he couldn't feel it anymore- but it felt like he should. He wanted to keep feeling. She held the limp, white fingers of his hand, wove hers between them, had him _'show off'_ his limited range of motion where his motor control fizzled out after the shoulder. With anyone else it would have been humiliating, he would have stood up and stormed off, demanded more respect from a woman he was driving around and taking out to dinner.

But from Kagura it _was_ respect, and he only figured that out when she asked him to put the sling away and out of sight. He couldn't feel her put a kiss on his paralysed hand, didn't even notice it until he looked back and saw her holding his fingers between both of her hands, red lips brushing skin he had difficulty recognizing as his own. It was respect because she wasn't, as he'd begun to suspect, drawing attention to the infirmity: she was disguising it.

For about twenty minutes in that restaurant, Sesshoumaru's hand was perfectly fine and holding onto his girlfriend's, and to anyone looking he was stroking her cheek or her lips the way lovers did. And when they grew tired of that, she kept her fingers curled around his and let his arm rest on the table. Their conversation continued on unbroken as she played with his sleeve and stroked his arm when making a coy joke. She even lightly (he hoped), smacked his wrist when he made a customary jab at Jakotsu.

He told himself his hand felt warm after she finally let go. He told himself, but didn't really believe it. He didn't believe in a healing touch.

But that twenty minutes was why he drove her home with thirty minutes on the clock again, turning off the engine when they got there. She gave him a curious look, one that slowly darkened into something sultry and openly tempting. Sesshoumaru spoke up before he let himself touch her.

"Not in a car." She bit one full red lip slowly as he let the mood-breaking words pass between them. Embarrassment flashed behind her dark eyes, the first time he'd actually seen it in her, and it felt like a jab in his stomach. Yes, it was an accusation, but maybe it was one for both of them. He wasn't just talking to her as he shook his head. "Kagura I will not..." What word was he supposed to use? Fuck? Sleep with? Make love? He skipped over it. "...with you, in a car. I won't." She wasn't one of the whores who picked up men at the Tokijin to screw in a parked car, or out behind a dumpster. He wasn't going to treat her like one.

"I..." For about five minutes there was silence, Sesshoumaru watching the dashboard clock slowly tick the time away. Not in a car. He wasn't going to drag Kagura into the back-seat of his car and- "Sesshoumaru, when I'm... When we _talk_..." Her words were coming out slowly, not catching in her throat like she was going to cry, but still forming with care. He didn't look at her right away, turning his head slowly until he could see her sitting in the passenger seat with her head down, black bangs obscuring her eyes. "When we talk to each other, I don't have to _talk_ about what everyone else is always bugging me about. It- doesn't make it go away, but I don't have to _go on_ about it. I don't have to do the explaining, or make the excuses, or tell assholes like your _brother_ to just _leave me __**alone**_ about it."

Wait.

"Inuyasha has been bothering you?"

"_Don't._" She brought her head up until it was pushing against the head-rest, looking at him openly with tired red eyes. Red both ways; almost blood-shot, and with her usual crimson iri. "Please, Sesshoumaru, don't... I can do this, your brother just over-reacts." While that was _true_... It was now his business. That half-foreign _ba_-

"Sesshoumaru I..." She sounded tired as she got his attention again, and he didn't understand it. She shouldn't be tired this early in the night, Kagura worked odd hours, yes, they all did, but she should be used to it. Did she go into work yawning when she was supposed to be dancing? What did she do all day that left her so exhausted? "I want... to say you can come upstairs." Then why was she shaking her head? "And- sometimes I just want to call and say the apartment's really messy, and ask if... if you can pick me up and we can go to your place for a while." She stopped and curled her bottom lip into her mouth completely, smearing the make-up he had once again failed to notice her wearing. Kagura just shut her eyes and shook her head again though. This concerned him.

"Kagura-"

"_Don't._ Don't ask me, Sesshoumaru." How was he _not_ supposed to ask with her looking at him like she was at the end of her rope, or at least, close enough to it that she could feel her feet slipping off the knot? "I can't talk to you about this. You'd get it- you would, but you're the person I _don't_ talk to about this." Those words... stopped him. They stopped him and Sesshoumaru didn't have to think about why.

If he let the stress of Tokijin get to him to the point where it started to show in front of her, what would he do if she wanted to talk about it? If, say, she was at his condo when a creditor called, or she saw a service notice in his mail, what would he say? They did not talk about money. They did not talk about business. Kagura was the only person he had who he could count on to always talk about whatever was _not_ those two things.

And in her life, Sesshoumaru was the only person she had who she could count on to always talk about whatever was _not_... whatever her problem was.

"Calm down."

"I'm sorry..."

"Kagura, calm down." She wasn't crying, but the woman sitting next to him was obviously upset. It wasn't the right reaction to put the blame solely on his accusation, but a nerve had been exposed and it was causing her a lot of pain now for no good reason. He could have told her to get out of the car, to go get some sleep since it was only fifteen minutes to the eleventh hour, but he didn't.

Instead, Sesshoumaru got out of the car. He was beginning to hate that dashboard clock. Walking around the vehicle slowly, he came around to Kagura's door and opened it. His girlfriend looked up through the open side of the car as she slowly unbuckled her seat belt.

"What are you doing...?"

"Walking you to your door." She just stared at him. "I understand it's what boyfriends do."

Kagura seemed to accept this, climbing out of the car slowly and letting him slip his arm around her waist. He walked her up along the broken concrete of the side-walk, past piles of autumn leaves and trash, then stopped when they reached the lobby door. She looked surprised again, stopping short when she almost slipped out of his hold; then settled back against him. She was warm, he liked that.

"Same time next week?" He asked, looking down and confirming that, yes, this was her front door as far as he was concerned. Kagura just stared for a few seconds, then nodded and came around so she was standing in front of him, chest-to-chest and his hand resting on her hip.

"I had fun tonight." Even on her toes Sesshoumaru had to bend down a little to share a kiss, her hand on the side of his face with the other resting on his shoulder. But it was just the one kiss, so it was good that she looked much happier by the end of it. "I'll call you?" Of course she would. She always did.

So that was how the fifth date ended, and after a week of phone calls and waiting Sesshoumaru is waiting for the sixth one to start.

And this is odd, because Sesshoumaru normally doesn't have to wait. He's been sitting out in his car for a good twenty minutes now, and this is both intriguing and frustrating at the same time. Kagura can't have forgotten about their date- he has a cell-phone bill to _prove_ she hasn't forgotten, and yet he's still waiting. At this rate they're probably going to lose their reservation, but so long as they don't have to eat at the Tenseiga to make up for it, he's fine with that. He'd just like his girlfriend, please.

Sesshoumaru gets out of the car and manages to get close enough to the buzzer panel to start looking over names before a flash of motion inside the lobby catches his eye. _There_ she is, but why's she running? Well, aside from the fact that she's almost half an hour late...

It's almost winter, it's getting cold out and they're leaving at night anyways, Sesshoumaru expects that soon Kagura will pull out a winter coat for when they go out, but she's wearing that signature jean jacket again. At least under that she's dressed better; a familiar white blouse and a red skirt that comes down past her knees. He's seen both pieces before, he knows she has a limited wardrobe.

"Sorry! It was nuts getting out the door and I just-" Kagura doesn't slow down as she gets outside and rushes up to him, in fact she doesn't even stop talking before Sesshoumaru finds his back pushed against the building wall and a set of untinted lips pressed over his. Kagura's arms are around his neck and her feet are off the ground, his good arm braced against her back. He's just experienced a flying tackle-hug, and he can feel every movement his girlfriend makes against him where she's still hanging off his shoulders.

He decides that Kagura should be late like this more often.

"Hey, um..." Eventually, her feet find the ground again and Sesshoumaru gets his balance back, the two of them walking over to the sedan before she hurries a few feet ahead of him and then stops. Kagura turns around and leans on the driver's side door, chewing her bottom lip like she does whenever she isn't sure of what she wants to say. Since Sesshoumaru can't get into the car, they aren't going anywhere. "Did you make a reservation for us tonight?"

"I did."

"Can you cancel it?" He can. But why would he do that? "I, um..." Out with it. "I want you to do something for me tonight, and it means no restaurant."

Alright. He doesn't mind deviating from the typical date plan, but he watches her nervous face in the twilight as he pulls out his phone and makes the call. The person on the other end sounds bored and doesn't care, striking their name from the book before Sesshoumaru has a chance to hang-up. Kagura's eyes are lost in space by now, the pink tip of her tongue keeps darting out between her lips nervously.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Nothing. But Kagura does put on a smile as a shy laugh drags its way up her throat. "You're gonna laugh at me, that's all." Sesshoumaru rarely laughs. However, he watches Kagura's smile grow a little stronger as she folds her arms under her chest, pulling away from the car as she stands right up in front of him, looking into his eyes.

"Sesshoumaru." What? "I want you to pretend we've already been to the restaurant tonight." The one that they were not going to. "_Right._ And I want to pretend that we've already spent three hours talking and driving around and doing whatever we were going to do tonight." Three and _a half_ hours into one of their _normal_ dates would make it ten-thirty, the time he'd be bringing her home.

"Is this you breaking up with me, Miss Kaze?" She gives him a _dirty_ look and they both know it's just a joke. "Pretending our dates are over before they've even begun."

"_Shut up."_ Her voice is playful, hands tugging on his jacket since it's getting colder out the further the sun sets over the city. Then Kagura stops laughing and gives him a more serious, sorry look. "We both know I won't stay out with you past eleven." Yes, he was quite aware of that. "But tonight... we're going to _pretend_ that I'll stay out with you a little later than that..." How much later is a question of simple math. If it was seven-thirty now and she wanted them to pretend it was really ten-thirty, then by the eleventh hour that meant it would be...

"So if we've already been to dinner, and we've driven around..." Sesshoumaru takes a slow step closer to her, Kagura backing up smoothly with her hands still toying with his jacket. Her back connects with the side of the car again and he leans in a little more. "On a Monday night, where everything in the city will be closed in another two hours..." Or less, but accuracy doesn't matter as Kagura slowly tilts her head to the side, Sesshoumaru's arm braced on the cool metal behind her as he breathes across the pale skin of her throat. No perfume, she smells good. "Where should we go?"

He presses his lips down on the soft spot behind the corner of her jaw, Kagura's hands already slipping inside his jacket and tugging his sides until his hips are against hers. Her breaths are deep and slow, brushing past his ear as he concentrates on that one spot behind her jaw, and he smiles against her skin when his teeth graze her and Kagura gasps quietly. He feels her legs tremble against his and he pulls his face away from her neck, nose to nose with her as Sesshoumaru waits for her to speak, patiently giving her time to form the invitation. Well, as patiently as he can while still pressing her against his car, but it's not like she's complaining.

"My apartment's a mess." Mhmm...? "Why don't we head over to your-?" He kisses her and Kagura melts a little, a soft, breathless sound creeping past her lips once he lets her go. When he looks at her face his girlfriend is flushed, and she's nervous, but she's smiling at him and he can still feel her hands inside his jacket, running over his chest and sides through his shirt, cutting paths of warmth through the cloth.

"Get in the car." Which means getting past him, which isn't something he makes easy for her, but they part and Sesshoumaru climbs into the driver's seat with Kagura quickly shutting her door beside him. He's surprised when she suddenly leans over and pulls him around for another kiss, the keys left dangling in the ignition, but this is an enjoyable distraction.

It feels a lot like high school and breaking curfew as they pull out of the apartment parking lot, with that electric thrill of doing something you know you're not supposed to. But there's nothing wrong with how they're going to spend their evening; two working adults in a steady relationship, driving back to his place at a legal speed. There's nothing wrong with it, but that thrill is still there; it's what makes him laugh unexpectedly when she makes one of her coy jokes. It's that thrill that keeps her fidgeting in her seat and makes them both fumble their words and argue about whether they need to pick up food first- whether they even _want _to take that sort of detour.

That thrill is why he thinks he loves this woman.

* * *

><p><strong>The following AN has nothing to do with TC.<strong>

**To Make Things Right: OKAY. If I'd thought it through I would have edited Chapter 21's AN to mention that I will NOT be doing any more updates FOR THE TIME BEING. I have finished chapter 22 (and it's lolong), chapter 23 grew about four new pages and is almost done as of tonight (July 24th), and I'm hoping to complete up to about chapter 30 (or a little less) before I start updating again. **

**More details have been uploaded to the FIRST chapter of TMTR (bottom AN), but basically I don't want to start updating and then stop in the middle of a narrative arc. We've all been there were we're reading an awesome fic, it's incomplete, and we check the last update to find it was last touched back in fucking '_07_ (no doubt left on a _cliff-hanger_). Sunny is not going to be accused of doing this! Minor hiatus, and I promise that if I end up dropping it (I won't, but if I do), I'll still post the chapters I've finished since, why not?**

**NOW BACK TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED ALTERNATE-UNIVERSE: Main pairing _away! _**


	16. On Top of the World

**Crawling, Let Love In, Good Life.**

**I had something to say and I forgot what it was... Enjoy the update!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

On Top of the World

By now Kagura had already figured out that Sesshoumaru liked to plan ahead. Any idiot who'd spoken with him for more than ten minutes knew he wasn't a fan of surprises and drastic changes, but at least she was confident enough in him to know he wouldn't lose it when she made him cancel their dinner plans.

_'I deserve this._' Kanna's birthday was tomorrow, so she had to make sure she- _'No, I deserve this. I want this for me.'_ The baby's first birthday was only a few days after Kanna's, and only about a month after that was- _'I'm allowed to have one night, I've earned this. It won't be like my birthday.'_ Which technically meant she'd had two nights- but what kind of logic was that? Two nights to herself in one year? That wasn't enough, she deserved more than that.

She let herself laugh and joke with Sesshoumaru until they reached a part of the city that was all bright lights and tall buildings, expensive-looking cars rolling by in the young night. She fell quiet as he pulled into an underground parking lot, pressing a button that was sitting on a little box clipped to his rear-view mirror. The gates rolled open and they drove in, a reserved spot waiting for the sedan.

"You live _here?_"

"No, I live upstairs." Asshole.

They moved from the parking complex into the building itself, a skyward pillar of light and glass with a lobby that was at least three stories tall itself. Even at night it was well lit and sparkling, marble floors and plants growing around an extravagant-looking modern water feature. Sesshoumaru just smirked at her as they claimed an empty elevator. The floor was covered in the same marble tile and the walls were polished mirror and stained red wood, a chrome bar running around the box to provide a handle.

Kagura didn't get to see which number Sesshoumaru pressed, but there were enough buttons on the panel for her to know he was somewhere near the top. It was a long and uninterrupted ride too, one taken in silence while her boyfriend wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and Kagura found herself smiling as she leaned against him. Then she felt that smile turn into a grin, because his touch crept up from her shoulder and grazed her neck, going further until he was pulling the tie out of her tangled hair.

Kagura hadn't done her hair tonight, or her make-up: she could have but then realized she just didn't want to deal with hair-spray gunk and raccoon eyes. He seemed pleased with the choice, his hand continuing to stroke and move through her hair until the elevator finally came to a stop. They stepped out into a short hallway that only had one dim light set in it, and two large doors on either end. Sesshoumaru had to unwind his arm from around her to pull out his keys, heading for the left-handed door and inserting the metal teeth into the lock.

Then he froze.

"Um..." And had she just heard him curse under his breath? That didn't seem like him... "Something wrong?"

"No." Yes. She didn't push, but yes, something was wrong. Sesshoumaru just sighed and finished unlocking the door though, the interior space dark- and it stayed that way too. Why didn't he turn on a light? "Watch your step."

Kagura didn't understand the problem right away, but he gave her two very strong clues; she heard a light switch flick on and off twice quickly, then caught the change in his voice when he warned her about-

"Ow!"

"I told you to-"

"I expected to step _down,_ not up!" The floor under her hands was smooth and polished, probably more stone like downstairs. It took her eyes a few minutes to adjust as she kicked her shoes off onto what felt and sort of looked like a mat.

There was some light, not much, it was just the ambient glow of the city coming through windows Kagura slowly saw form out of the murky black. From floor to ceiling, the glass had to be at least two stories high; meaning there was a second level to the condo, and more importantly they were _right_ near the top of the building. A pent-house probably would have been the entire floor, not one half or one quarter like this one was, but it was still a large space.

From the doorway Kagura blindly followed her disgruntled boyfriend into the long living room, letting go of his sleeve once enough of the pinkish-yellow city light filtered into her eyes for her to see some of the room's features. There was a sunken part of the floor where she thought she saw couches, a large wall rose up from there; maybe a fire place? There were joists on the face of the wall though, like something had been hanging there that was gone now. If she looked to her left then there was a half- wall with stools set up; a bar. So the kitchen was probably that way as well. Following the line of the windows directly ahead of her, Kagura could make out a door that probably led out onto a patio.

There was a spiral staircase to her right that led up to an over-hang, she couldn't see up that way but Sesshoumaru wasn't interested in the stairs. She saw his cell-phone glowing in the dark as he leaned over a desk tucked into the nook behind the stair-case. He was reading papers on the desk, and Kagura didn't have to say anything or even see his face. She knew the anxiety in the lines of his shoulders, the low whisper on his breath; bills.

Of the two of them, Kagura never expected _he_ would be the one to fall behind enough to have his electricity cut.

"_Hey_..."

"Don't." Walking up to where he was standing over his desk, she watched the cell get tossed down onto the mess of papers, Sesshoumaru's hand pinching the bridge of his nose before rubbing his eyes. "I won't talk to you about this." Kagura just smiled, smiled and slid between him and the desk, leading with one hand so she didn't go knocking his paperwork onto the floor. He didn't move away from her, just stared down with his yellow-green eyes as her nose brushed against his.

"I was just gonna ask where your bathroom is. And if you have any candles." It took him a few minutes to answer, Kagura closing her eyes as she was kissed. She reached up to hold his face as her lips parted under his and he sent a chill into her stomach, Kagura laughing a bit until she worked her mouth free. "I'm _serious_; which way?"

"There're two. And no candles." Well then which one was closest to the _bedroom?_ Sesshoumaru started tugging her in the right direction, but when he tried to kiss her again Kagura laughed and fought him off- fleeing into the shadows. He had the advantage because he knew the condo, even in the dark, and as soon as they entered the short hall leading away from the massive windows she lost her ability to navigate. Sesshoumaru's voice was low and taunting in the dark,

"You can either go right or left, one of them will-" _Bam!_

"Fuck!"

"Kagura?" She's run straight, which apparently wasn't one of her options.

"Who the fuck puts a table in the middle of the floor?" Holding her side as she grumbled the words, she'd slammed herself into the corner of a table that felt like it was made of wood and covered in ornate detailing. But more importantly: _ow_, it hurt.

"Who runs into a table that's pushed up against a wall?" His voice was behind her, his chest against her back as his arm slid around her waist. But there was a sigh in his words and his mouth didn't suddenly attack her neck- although the chill that had started in her stomach was still there, and she wished his hand would be a little more daring than the firm hold around her. It still felt good though, and she bit her lip trying not to laugh as his breath tickled her ear. "Stop running into things."

"_Carry me..."_ She whined, pushing her head back and trying to nuzzle his face affectionately. She felt him smile and his arm shift around her, and Kagura started to laugh. She was just joking, she didn't actually expect him to-

"Turn a little." To- _hey!_ "Like this?"

"Sesshoumaru! Put me down!" She'd been curious when she felt his knees bend and his body start to go down, turning like he'd asked- then he'd pushed his shoulder into her _already bruised_ stomach and stood up again! His arm was hooked behind her knees with her body slung over his right shoulder, carrying her! She was not a sack of rice! "It was a _joke! _I can walk just fine now will you-"

"Shut up." _No!_ "Watch your head." _Fine!_ She lowered her head so her face was pressed to his back, but then she groped in the dark until she found the silver tail of his hair and gave it a good yank. "You enjoy being a handful, don't you?" He was laughing! Fine time to have a sense of humour!

Kagura shrieked again as his grip on her suddenly vanished and she felt herself falling backwards in the dark. She found his shoulder and hung on, the fear going out of her when her back was caught and sides enveloped in softness. Oh good, the bed, he'd just thrown her on the-

"I think the last time you were on my bed..."

"Oh shut up, I was just sitting on the edge." She'd been holding his shoulder when he tossed her, meaning Sesshoumaru came down with her whether he'd wanted to or not. Kagura could feel his weight and presence over her, only able to see him as a more solid patch of black hovering in the dark room. A few strands of ambient light picked out his hair and eyes, the lines of his face more like a memory than the real thing. Kagura didn't reach up to touch him though, just recognized that she was laying on rumpled, unmade bedding- and probably the wrong way too since she couldn't feel any pillows near her head. His bed was soft, and it smelled like him...

He was shifting over her, sitting up with his legs straddling her thighs as she heard heavy fabric rustle before something was tossed away- his jacket. There was a click and something else hit the floor- the sling around his left arm. He could still move his shoulder, meaning he could use the damaged limb to prop himself up over her, and that was good. Kagura's hands were busy with the buttons of her blouse when he came back down over her, her eyes fluttering shut as his mouth found hers in the dark, then travelled down her throat.

"I prefer you like this..." Yes, this was what she wanted. She wanted to feel his hot breath travel down her chest and run over her skin, her spine bending back as he dragged his hand from her knee up over her thigh and hip. Her skirt was bunched up over his wrist and he ran his palm up and down her thigh a few times, Kagura's hands shaking as she snapped one of the buttons off his shirt by accident. She had the white- or was it red tonight? She couldn't remember- but she had the front open almost all the way when his touch snaked up further and she felt him run his fingertips across her stomach- still under her skirt.

Kagura pushed the whatever-colour of his shirt down off his shoulders, not caring that it got caught on his arms as he breathed over her skin again and put tension on her bra. Did he have it between his teeth? She found herself laughing softly as he nuzzled her chest again, her hands stroking his hair and encouraging his curious search. Kagura then gasped when the hand below her waist hooked onto and pulled away her panties. She felt a shiver and then the weight of him moving back up over her, his good arm up and snaking behind her back now, inside the open fall of the blouse she'd unbuttoned.

She pushed his shoulder with her hand and Sesshoumaru obliged her by rolling onto his back, their legs tangling until Kagura managed to be the one with her thighs spread over his hips, not the other way around. She sat up with her hands running across his chest, feeling his heart pound under her touch and answer hers where it was pulsing in her ears and throat. There were a few lines and patches of texture across his skin she knew were probably from the accident; his left arm was like one big network of scars whenever she caught a glimpse of it.

So he got to keep the shirt for now, that was okay with her. She slid off his hips as Sesshoumaru sat up though, Kagura escaping to her feet and pushing down on his shoulders when he tried to stand and follow her.

"No-" Wait! Not '_no',_ she just meant- "_Sit_..." He stayed seated on the edge of the mattress and Kagura let her hands find and undo the leather belt around his waist, it clattered to the floor- there was more stone in here, he had no carpets. Sesshoumaru slipped away from her up the side of the bed and she heard a drawer slide open- oh, right- she uh... Kagura swallowed and reached around her own waist to find the zipper and button holding her skirt around her hips, letting the red fabric pool on the floor.

His hand found hers in the dark and the lull came to end as she walked up in front of him. He left her bra and blouse where they were and just placed her hand on his shoulder, then wrapped the strong limb around her waist until she was kneeling on the bed over his lap. All she had to do was sit and let him kiss her, but that was... suddenly very hard. Almost scary.

But she wasn't scared of him, that was stupid. Sesshoumaru was just some jerk who knew how to say the right things and look good while doing it. He was someone who'd taken crap from god and his father and was doing fine just to spite them both. He was the guy who could make all the sexist, racist, and classist remarks he wanted, but you didn't care because he worked hard for everything he had and his opinion was just that: an opinion.

But Kagura still wanted that opinion, because sometimes it was witty, or funny, or insightful. And if he gave his then he'd always look at her with those bored yellow eyes and ask what _her_ opinion was. Of him, of whatever they were talking about, of something that had nothing to do with anything.

He made it feel like he was looking at the world through her, or maybe not the whole world, just a little patch of it, but it was a patch she was important in defining. So it didn't matter what she said, he'd want to hear it. Sesshoumaru didn't put up with stupid people talking to him, he didn't talk to people just because they were there, he didn't care about the opinions or the input of _people_. But when he wanted to talk to her then that meant he _wanted_ to talk to _her._

And Sesshoumaru didn't look at her and wonder if she was smiling today because she wanted to, or if she _had_ to because there was some dark and twisty past she was trying to cover up. He didn't get weird when she lost her temper over little things or freak out if she started crying unexpectedly, and he didn't try to weasel in on her business or force his way into her life. Hell, if she'd started all of this by asking him for help, by begging him to take that delivery from his brother instead of flatly refusing it... He probably would have shut her out and never thought twice about it.

"Calm down." So maybe she really, _really_ liked him...

"I can't remember..." So why was this really, really scary? She felt his lips brush hers and her hands stroke his face where both her palms were holding his jaw. Her heart was still pounding but nothing was moving; her legs were strong enough to keep her up like this, but the muscles weren't bending to lower her down. Everything felt twisty and knotted on the inside. "The last time I- I can't remember." Where she was, who she was with, what it was like- she couldn't even remember the boyfriend's name.

"What's my name?" Kagura felt a shy laugh creep past her lips, tilting her head a little and hovering her lips over his.

"_Good point..._" Down a little, just enough to feel-

"_No_..." His voice was so rough, scraping past her cheek as he moved his lips from hers, "What's my name, _Kagura?_" Down a lot more, but slowly, taking a breath when they both reacted. His hold on her was firm, one of her hands moving down to his shoulder as she braced herself on him.

"Sesshoumaru..." Keep going, the tension was good, it-

"_Again_."

"_Sesshoumaru..._" He kissed her, and Kagura let herself slide down into a dark, perfect world.

* * *

><p>Kanna's birthday. Kanna's birthday was the absolute only reason why Kagura's eyes slowly pulled themselves open in the dark. She had to be home to make breakfast for Kanna before her sister went to school- and Hakudoshi too, but it wasn't his birthday, he just got breakfast because she might as well cook for them both. But she had to make Kanna's breakfast today, and Kagura had to pack Kanna's lunch instead of her or Hakudoshi doing it. Because it was the little girl's twelfth birthday.<p>

Kagura had also asked for a day off work from Inuyasha, so she had to be there because the daycare wouldn't accept the infant today without charging her through the nose for it. She'd already decided she was going to clean up the apartment from top to bottom, and get the food ready for the birthday party Kanna was allowed to have- a Halloween theme. She knew at least four little girls and two boys were coming to their apartment today after school.

'_I don't even know where he lives...'_ Well, Kagura _knew_ because she was in Sesshoumaru's condo, and had been sleeping comfortably on his bed, but she didn't have a clue where it actually was inside the city. Getting home without a car would take _hours_... So she had to wake him up. _'What time is it...?_' Probably long past eleven... That brat Hakudoshi was gonna be pissed...

Whatever, the kid could get over it; Kagura wasn't his mother.

Sesshoumaru's body was a warm rock against her back, one heavy arm draped over her waist and holding her tight to his chest, his other one under her side and also helping hold her close. She had to stop and orient herself, right and left, before she could figure out which one was lame- the one under her. Kagura probably could have just poked and prodded the limbs to figure it out, but that would of woken him up.

There was still no electricity, but the apartment wasn't cold. Or at least Kagura couldn't feel it. The bed around her was so soft and plush it surprised her that her normally rigid boyfriend could tolerate it; she'd always pegged him as the _'sleeps on plywood'_ kind. The thick quilt and smooth sheets were tangled around her legs and hugging her hips, probably doing the same thing to him since Kagura could feel skin all the way down her body. Skin that'd been misted with sweat and was already dry again, still exuding a heavy musk she could smell and that made her want to just turn around and get more of it.

So she did, moving gingerly and feeling a shiver as their skin stuck and peeled apart slowly. Rolling in his arms made Sesshoumaru wake up, or at least lift his head and take a deep breath as Kagura curled one arm around his head and slipped her other one under his good arm. She stroked his back with her fingertips, her forehead pressed to his as he adjusted his hold around her torso. Yes, he was awake, his breathing was different now than a minute ago; shorter and a little faster than the deep ones that had fluttered down her back. He was feigning sleep, he didn't want to get up.

Well, neither did she, but-

"_Sesshoumaru..._" No answer. She stroked his face with the hand curled around his head, her fingers blindly searching out the sweeping scars on his cheek and gently brushing over them. "I know you're awake." Still no response, not until she heard and felt him draw in a deeper breath and hold it, then exhale with a sigh and a few lost words.

"...You do not _honestly_ expect me to drive you home."

"I do."

"No."

"_Yes._"

"_No._" And then he started to roll with her, Kagura recognizing the rumble in his chest from earlier as she found herself on her back with a very awake, very stubborn man between her legs again. Her toes curled and her knees pulled up as a renewed Sesshoumaru pressed his mouth over hers, and Kagura let her arms stretch up over her head as he started trying to convince her to stay. She heard herself give a moan of appreciation as he invited himself back into her body; his fingers tweaking her skin, his hips pushing and grinding down over hers.

For the next few minutes all Kagura could manage was his name, and a few insults, but mostly just his name. Once it was over thought she didn't just roll back onto her side to cuddle with him, or go back to sleep. She had to get home, even if it felt stupid to get in a car just so she could go to sleep on a couch, instead of taking advantage of the mattress and bedding and pillows and lover waiting right here. She was going _home._

"What's the address here?"

"_Kagura._"

"It's fine! Sleep, I'm just gonna call a cab." Once she found her purse in the dark, and her clothes. She knew where her shoes were, and she was pretty sure there was a horribly rumpled shirt balled up under her right now- his or hers she couldn't tell. What Kagura _was_ sure of was that the hand Sesshoumaru had laid on her arm after she sat up went lax, a sigh and a low growl rumbling in the dark before she felt the mattress shift a little and heard the sheets pulling away.

"...We'll pick up coffee on the way." Hands down: best boyfriend ever.

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><p><strong>Haha's not quite smut.<strong>


	17. Knowing Where You Stand

**Japanese songs from the playlist, Let Love In, Good Life.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Knowing Where You Stand

Sesshoumaru did not want to be drinking coffee at this time of night. He also didn't want to be driving, least of all driving to Kagura's apartment when she was already sitting in his car and looked more than ready to fall asleep next to him. He didn't want to be awake right now, but sleeping meant he'd probably drive off the road and kill one or both of them: he wanted that even less. So he was drinking coffee.

He should have been asleep, and _Kagura_ should have been asleep next to him. And they should not have been in his car: they should have been in bed- _his _bed, in his condo, not driving back to her place at... He checked that damned dash-board clock: three in the morning. Four more hours in bed would not have killed her. Six more hours in bed would have seen them wake up to daylight and able to ignore the fact that none of his appliances were running and that there was no point feeling around for a light switch because none of them worked.

But no, Kagura wanted to go home, so Sesshoumaru was driving her home. He wasn't going to let her take a _cab_ at three in the morning. But he did vow that someday Kagura _would_ spend thewhole night with him- and maybe even the entire day after that.

The kiss she gave him at the door lessened the blow a little. He could forgive her when it took ten minutes for them to part.

Finding her purse still sitting in his condo when he got back was a cheap shot. At almost four in the morning Sesshoumaru did _not_ want to be driving back to his girlfriend's. But the purse had her wallet and cell-phone, plus her keys and- wait... how the hell had she gotten into the building? He _saw_ her open the door and go in, he _knew_ Kagura was at home right now. If she'd been locked out then she obviously would have called-

"_Fuck._" Called how? Smoke signals?

So he drove _all the way back._ And he decided he didn't love this woman, that was just stupid. He just didn't want her leaving things in his condo like they belonged there.

It was almost winter so dawn was still a few hours off, but Sesshoumaru was determined not to let the night get to him as he pulled into the same parking spot for the third time that night. His limbs felt like lead, he needed a shower, he needed clean and not-slept-on clothes, he needed _sleep_ or at least a lot more coffee before he could think of trying to manage to Tokijin's problems later.

Or his own problems. The electric company had _actually_ cut his power; he'd known it would happen eventually. He had personally argued over the phone with them a few days ago, and he had been told that he had _blahblah_ days to pay _blahblah _in back-fees or they were within their rights to shut off his power.

_'So on the night that it **actually**__mattered-'_ Stop it. Just stop it.

It took him another ten minutes after he shut off the engine before Sesshoumaru could get out of the car. He couldn't think about bills and payments and management right now, he'd almost fallen into that trap earlier in the evening until Kagura pulled him away from that desk. Now he was miles from his condo and only yards from her building's front door, so he couldn't _think_ about those problems right now. He'd figure something out. He'd find money _somewhere_.

He focused on a different problem instead, because the other ones were strangling him: how to get inside. Leaving the sedan behind, the panel next to the doors told him which apartment he was looking for; Kaze was on the sixth floor, suite forty-six. Who was Onigumo? Did she have a room-mate? He could have buzzed, but now he had to think about how Kagura had gotten inside without her keys.

Sesshoumaru just went straight for the handle and pulled on it. Any self-respecting apartment complex had locked doors to keep random people from wandering inside: Kagura's building door was either unlocked or just plain _broken_, and opened at his touch. Sesshoumaru was so _tired _and so _frustrated_ and _so fucking mad_ at that moment that if there had been even an ounce of credit left to his name, he would have called the bastard building manager. Fuck the time, he would have done it and he would have scared the cheap son of a bitch so badly he'd be there _within the hour_ to fix the door.

He didn't try the elevator once he was inside, he was shocked they even had one in this place. The walls were a dirty yellow and the floor hadn't been swept or mopped in years. The stairs were narrow and just barely large enough to carry something along, let alone move furniture. Six flights of stairs burned through enough of Sesshoumaru's frustration that he felt reasonably calm and in-control again once he finally reached the right floor. He even took the time to straighten up his appearance, making sure his hair was neat and shirt buttoned and tucked properly- he couldn't help the wrinkles. His bad arm was also settled properly in its sling, not twisted around bizarrely as it was sometimes wont to do.

Voices. That was what he heard when he found the proper number. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but there were voices on the other side of the door. Kagura and someone else- someone male? It was an argument, or at least a heated discussion, but Sesshoumaru checked his watch and read ten-past-four on the face. Who the hell was still up at this hour? Who the hell was up and aggravating his girlfriend at four in the morning?

So he knocked. Loudly.

Sesshoumaru didn't have an invitation, Kagura had never asked him up to the apartment and she'd made it expressly _clear_ that there would be no such welcome in the near future. But right now he didn't need an invitation. He was standing on a mouldy carpet in an old building. He was standing on the outside listening in on an angry set of voices, one of which he cared about and the other he hoped was fucking justified or else capable of out-running him.

So he knocked. The sound cut through the argument so fast he could have fired a shot into the apartment. He heard Kagura's voice first and then a loud '_No!_'through the door. Then he heard something else, something so completely different that it had never occurred to him to think about:

He heard a _baby._

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><p><strong>OH SNAP.<strong>

**Leave a review and in about 10 hours I'll have the next chapter posted. Yes, technically that means double-update! I think this'll be the last one for a while though, the rest of my chapters are pretty long :D**


	18. Kagura, October 25th

**Same as chapter 17. These two chapters were so friggin' short D:**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Kagura: October 25th

It takes Kagura about six minutes to answer the door. Her automatic reaction is _'Naraku!', _but that's ridiculous and she quashes the fear, Naraku couldn't be standing outside her door. But she doesn't know who the hell could be outside her apartment at this time of night. She knows the lobby door is broken and doesn't lock- its _always_ been that way. Since they moved in. But who goes around trying lobby doors? Kagura and the kids keep their apartment door dead-bolted and chained most of the time, even if they're all home- except on nights when Kagura goes out.

Which is why Hakudoshi is so pissed with her, and to be honest she's pissed back. _Yes._ She lost track of time. _Yes._ She was out with Sesshoumaru much, much later than she'd planned. And _yes,_ she's been seeing a lot of him lately, and what the hell is that supposed to mean anyways? Hakudoshi's always staying out late at school or WacDonalds and Kagura's never stopped him from that, has she? She's allowed to have _one fucking night off _once and in a while. _She is not their __**mother**__._

But she forgot her purse tonight, which is so stupid she can only blame it on being tired- and having to navigate a blacked-out apartment to get dressed. Neither of those things are details for her to share with Hakudoshi though: he's her _brother_ for god's sake, ew, no sex-life details for him, _ever_. But she forgot her purse, so she had to knock and wake them up, get him out of bed to let her in, wake up the baby who's restless in her arms while the teenager gives her crap for staying out late. What, does he think he's the man of the house? Little punk she oughta-

"_Kagura._" The door- fuck, fuck, _fuck. _She jabs her finger down the hall, telling Hakudoshi to go to bed but the teenager just stands there and gives her a stubborn glare. She tries to hand the unhappy infant off to him and he flatly refuses to take his brother; tossing up his hands and causing the child to whine and begin to wail as he's bumped around by accident. If Kanna wasn't already up, then she's awake now. She could just _strangle_ their brother- the elder one. But she can't. And she's not gonna cry either.

She's still holding the infant, Hakudoshi's still standing in the living room wearing an old black tee-shirt and a pair of sweat-pants, and Kagura's still wearing her jacket and shoes since she's hardly had a moment to get herself together. At least she isn't surprised when she checks through the little glass eye in the door and sees the owner of that deep voice, and at _least_ she's getting her purse back. She just really, really doesn't want this to happen, not tonight.

There's no way for her to hide that she's holding an unhappy toddler on her arm. You can't just screen one half of your body when there's no space next to the door and your boyfriend isn't a complete tool. So she opens it up for Sesshoumaru and stands there with just a short _'hi'._ This greeting is fine because he doesn't even answer, he just stares at the tiny person grumbling against Kagura's shoulder. His face doesn't change- he's good at keeping a straight face and remaining completely unflappable, but he does jerk a little before handing over a black satin bag with a silver chain on it; her purse.

"Thanks."

Still no answer. He blinks his off-yellow eyes at her but there's nothing in them that she can read. Kagura has to wonder how drastically his view of her is already shifting, can't decide if she should do something like laugh at him and clarify that the baby is her _brother_, not her child. Yeah, laughing would probably be best, something to jar him out of that stupor; sex and no sleep and caffeine and doing something nice for his girlfriend are apparently clogging his gears and making everything break down. If she laughs at him then that might be something normal to help them get through this.

Instead of a fake laugh, Kagura gets a sob caught up in the sound instead and the effect is lost. Sex and exhaustion and frustration make tears bubble up, fear and anxiety catch her words and drag them back down her tight throat before she can explain.

This isn't the person she wants to explain things to, this isn't the person she wants to have to make understand her. This isn't something Kagura can do. Kagura can do a lot of things, sometimes she even surprises herself when she gets things done what she's convinced any normal person would collapse over or give up on. But as she claps a hand over her mouth and stops the horrifying sounds that are making their beaten, injured way over her tongue. Kagura can't do this. She can't watch Sesshoumaru change the way he looks at her, she can't explain what's going on and break things into little pieces for him. She can't change the way their relationship works and she can't tolerate the idea of him becoming like his brother around her: treating her like a piece of thin glass that has to be carried across egg-shells.

She can't have him pity her.

"I... have to put him back to bed." Him, the infant who's been staring at her face for a few stunned moments watching her tears, and who's now starting to get worked up and scared. The baby is fine no matter what's happening so long as he doesn't see people cry, because tears scare him more than shouting. It's like how Kanna's okay in a bad situation unless you force her to talk, then she start's screaming and runs away. It's like how Hakudoshi can cope so long as he gets to actually see or hear what's going on, but will freak out if kept in the dark or alone by himself.

"Right." It's like how Kagura can do anything and handle everything... until she just can't. And watching Sesshoumaru walk off without a _'good night'_ or a '_good-bye'_ or a _'next week?'_ or a '_same time?' _is her limit. She shuts the door so she doesn't have to watch him round the corner so he can run out of the building and get to his car and drive away without a look back. She just shuts the door and can't even make it to the couch; just presses her back against the wall and slides down to the floor.

The baby's crying and Kagura just moves him around in her arms so his head is under her chin, a safe, warm place where his wails and tears make her skin sticky but at least he can't see her face. She strokes his thin hair as his tiny fingers pull on hers and weakly strike her shoulder and chest. He's a year old by this Friday, Kanna's birthday is tomorrow- today. Kagura has a lot she knows she has to do today, and since it's four-thirty in the morning she won't get much sleep for it beforehand.

But that's okay, because right now crying is more important than sleeping. Kagura might be single again, but she can still do this.

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><p><strong>Sad chapter was sad? Leave a review and let me know what you think!<strong>


	19. Now Take a Step Back

**Reflection, Good Life, Love Will Never Do, Come Back to Me, Kikyo no Kokoro.**

**TMTR update: I finished chapter 23 yesterday. Working on 24 and 25 simultaneously.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Now Take a Step Back

"_Sesshoumaru..._" There was no reason for his mother to sound so pleased to see him. However, considering the fact that the platinum-haired woman didn't so much as stand up as he walked into her office, Sesshoumaru couldn't say for sure how genuine she was being.

He looked like hell. He'd tried to hide it, he'd tried to go home and sleep for a few hours after last night, tried to shower and shave and put on fresh clothes, but it hadn't done him any good. Sesshoumaru had gone back to his condo at almost five in the morning and hadn't been able to go into his own bedroom, sleeping on his couch instead until it was almost ten- that is, until the sun came up through those great big windows that afforded him an unrivalled view of the city skyline.

He was haggard and worn out, and it wasn't something sleep and coffee and stress could fix, not right away. Kagura hadn't wanted him to come near her apartment, she'd gone to many lengths and great pains not to let him catch wind of the infant he'd seen her with that morning. The baby didn't even _look_ like her, but that didn't matter: its presence put the wrong spin on everything. He was either a tool for her to run around and have fun with, or he was a potential father figure for the brat.

Rebound was fine, he could handle being a woman's rebound after a long relationship- or what he could at least _hope_ had been a long relationship. How _that_ body had produced a baby was beyond him, but her pregnancy had probably ended whatever relationship had caused it. Fine. Sesshoumaru had been looking for the same thing: a woman who could prove that a lame arm wasn't going to be the end of him. He'd had a woman _ask_ to just skip right to the end of their date, so if that didn't help his ego he wasn't sure what would.

So he'd gotten what he wanted. There, done, time to move on. He wasn't going to take on a bunch of surprise problems for a woman he'd only gone out with for a month and half- and he wasn't going to be shut out like an incompetent boy-toy either. Something in that logic reeked of hypocrisy, but Sesshoumaru wasn't interested in following his nose back to the source. So he'd liked Kagura, so he'd looked forward to the phone-calls and the timed dates, so he'd liked that bizarre thrill he'd felt around her- she'd satisfied him, there, enough. He was satisfied.

"You seem distracted, _Sesshoumaru_, don't you want to know why your beloved mother called you here today?" Yes, yes he did. He was more interested in that than whatever potential chaos in his personal life had been struck down by cold, simple logic. Sesshoumaru didn't know where his eyes had wandered in his mother's ultra-modern white and black office, but he brought his attention back to her yellow-clad form where they were sitting on either side of her desk.

His mother had a penchant for brilliant, loud, saturated colours, and she was the only woman he had ever known who could wear such a violent wardrobe without looking hideous. Perhaps it was the fact that her face _never changed._ His mother dressed loudly because her steps were quiet and her words were soft. It was a scare tactic. It worked.

"Closing arguments were yesterday." Closing arguments in the lawsuit she filed for him against Mount Hakurei. It hadn't actually gone to trial so he knew he was mixing legal terminology, but he was exhausted and he felt like hell and he just did not care. His mother's final settlement meeting had been yesterday, so either she had called him to come in here today at one in the afternoon to say they were taking the case to court (an announcement she could have _easily_ made over the phone), or to dole out the settlement money.

For Tokijin's sake, it had better be the money.

If it wasn't then Sesshoumaru knew he'd have to call Toran soon and finally, _agonizingly_, put his condo up for sale. With the Tokijin's meagre gains over the last quarter he could probably eek out a few more months of self-sufficiency, but Sesshoumaru was still bleeding money every month and driving his credit into the ground. He'd rather sell the condo while there was still time than let it go to auction for a steal if he declared bankruptcy in six months' time. He'd get what he was worth if it killed him.

"Yes, and after my commission, darling, you gain..." His mother was quite pleased, shimmying her shoulders like she'd just felt a chill inside her canary haute couture blazer, pulling a slip of paper out the clear drawer of her glass desk. He could see straight through the work space, he didn't know how she could stand seeing finger-prints all over the glass- not that there were any. Her assistant probably took care of that.

The entire room was like that however, everything was white, or metallic, or clear. The walls were white, the shelves were chrome and glass, and the floors were a light charcoal grey stone. There was a hint of colour elsewhere on the rest of the floor his mother claimed as her practice- a bit of beige marred the walls outside this room, the space where her assistant was sitting when Sesshoumaru came in was almost yellow, and there was some wood detailing around the elevator dock. But his mother loved white, it was sanitary, it was refined, it was surgical.

It was sterile and sickening.

But those distractions gave Sesshoumaru a reason to not watch her pen a number onto that crisp little slip, and once she slid it towards him he leaned forward in his white leather chair and picked it up.

Zeros.

Many zeroes. Repeated one after the other- but there was no other number there to quantify them. It was just a string of zeroes, seven of them.

He was going to be sick.

He was either going to violently murder his own mother, or Sesshoumaru was going to be violently ill all over the inside of her sparkling white office. Either way, violence would be had.

"Nothing."

"Well of course not, what did you expect after agreeing to one-hundred percent commission fees?" The way she said the words just floored him, how his own _mother_ could turn her pale sage-green eyes on him so innocently as she delivered the crushing blow. He couldn't have. He would _never_ have- "You know, I thought it was a joke too; something you'd see right away and make me fix first, poor darling..." His mother bent down at her desk a little and rifled through another of her clear drawers, he could look straight down and see the files parting between her fingers where they were hovering in their glass box.

Sterile and deceptive, she pulled out a file-folder seemingly at random and opened it in front of him, pointing out a legal document with his signature on it. He just stared, his eyes roaming over the formal text until she took a pen and casually tapped the page where a few numbers were filled in. Agreed commission? One-hundred percent. And just below that, his signature.

There were no words. For several minutes, Sesshoumaru just couldn't...

"You were still heavily medicated at the time, but I still expected better, _Sesshoumaru_." His mother had a way of saying his name that he didn't appreciate, ever, but right now he felt his minor and long-standing irritation tumble all the way into raw resentment. It wasn't legal- _this?_ This wouldn't stand up in court, if he took his _mother_ to court, if he could _afford_ to take her to- "But you'll be happy to know I've decided to invest in my son's future well-being and happiness." _Happiness._

"What are you scheming?" He was already trying to remember if he had Toran's number saved into his cellphone from their last transaction for the Tokijin. Maybe it was back at home- at the _condo_- sitting on his desk. Maybe he was an idiot and had carelessly given the information to Inuyasha months ago when he passed off Tetseiga's files. He could look it up online, almost everyone has a site now a-days. Or he could just get a new Realtor.

"_Sesshoumaru,"_ He hated that, he hated that honeyed sound she smeared all over his name, murmuring it like some kind of secret. He watched her rest her elbows on the glass desk and lean forward like the words forming behind her smile weren't going to terrorize him. "I've decided to follow your late father's example and consider what's best for you." A boldfaced lie and it disgusted him that she'd even play that card in his hearing. Any respect Kimi Inu felt for Touga Taishou had died with Izayoi's first pregnancy test.

His father had left Kimi when Sesshoumaru was still a child- his mother started her practice with the capital from selling off Touga Taishou's business empire, but she had also run it without letting anyone know about _him_ until he was almost sixteen. Sesshoumaru _was_ his mother's secret, and he hated being reminded of that. He hated knowing that he'd never been able to go out with his mother into public spaces lest someone see him, hated remembering how he'd never been able to call her in case he interrupt some meeting. And he despised remembering the times he'd violated that, the _rare, important_ moments where he'd needed to speak to his mother, how she'd adopted a code of false names and double-meanings that no child could possibly have understood.

So he hated her pretending she had any _pretence _of helping him now.

"I've taken the liberty of... Actually, let me call him in." _Him?_ His mother's manicured finger found its way through the air until she was pressing the small button on her white and chrome office telephone. "Bya, could you step in here for a moment?" Who was that, her assistant? His mother was calling in her _assistant_ at a time like this? Sesshoumaru was ready to stand up and storm out as the door behind him opened, every ounce of his self control dedicated to not allowing his face to twist or his voice to come booming out of his chest like it so desperately wanted to.

He didn't know his mother's assistant, he knew this wasn't the same one he'd seen the last time he'd found it necessary to come into her office, but Sesshoumaru had no idea and no _interest _ in the man as he entered.

"Yes, Ma'am?" They must have been about the same age, though Sesshoumaru was taller. He immediately resented the indigo undertones in the man's black hair, disturbingly reminded of the pale lilac hue that had stained Kagura's child. His mother's assistant wore the lengths in a very short tail behind his head, just over the white collar of his pressed shirt, a reflective bronze-toned tie cinched at his throat and matching the dark brown of his suit. Assistants were usually fresh from school, Sesshoumaru had seen enough of them in his life to know that, as usual, his mother had captured some starving graduate and probably kept him chained to that desk outside to play secretary. He half expected to hear the chain rattling around the man's ankle.

"Bya, this is my son, _Sesshoumaru_ Inu-Taishou." She couldn't even introduce him without that cursed drawl. "Darling, I'm going to allow Mr. Kaze to explain the Meidou account to you, it was his very clever idea after-all." _Kaze-?_

"Aha- I was afraid you'd say that..." This man could not be a relation of Kagura's. Sesshoumaru found himself staring but didn't stop as the young lawyer moved around his mother's desk to stand beside her. Her jade green eyes were following the assistant with an almost hungry look- and that disturbed him enough for Sesshoumaru to nearly miss the fact that this man and Kagura had to be _almost_ the same height. The nervous laugh he gave at the attention was like a burr in Sesshoumaru's ear: _no._ How was this even-?

"Essentially, Mister Inu-Taishou, your mother has decided to place the money from your settlement in a trust fund." Sesshoumaru was torn; was he supposed to be watching the man's body language to rule out a supposed association, or listen to the financial information being delivered in a business-like tone? "Do you have the...? Thank you."

His mother handed over the file and Sesshoumaru's good hand found itself gripping the arm of his chair hard enough to form a cramp. The violet-eyed attorney bit his lip for a moment as he flipped through Sesshoumaru's information, finally locating the pages he wanted. It took him a moment to realize the stapled bundle was being held out to him, and Sesshoumaru accepted it mechanically. He stared at the papers, but couldn't read them for several minutes.

"A total of some forty-million yen is sitting in a private trust at the Bank of Japan. However, the stipulations for withdrawal state that money may only be withdrawn in order to cover tuition at any of the listed institutions." Institutions? Sesshoumaru worked his thumb under the edge of the top sheet, then flipped the bundle open. He felt his blood beginning to heat up, a deep pit opening up in his chest that he just poured all the anger and resentment into; anything to ignore the sense of hurt or humiliation that was trying to creep up out of that void.

National universities, public universities, private secondary institutions, junior colleges, trade schools, distance-education platforms, foreign academies. There had to be at least two hundred candidates on the list in front of him- probably many more given how thick the bundle was. Had his mother dredged up every _single_ post-secondary school in East Asia?

"_This _is how you want to control me?" He hissed the words, there wasn't enough pride or reverence in the world to make him civil right now. Sesshoumaru couldn't handle this; he'd built something for himself _by himself_, he'd taken the Tetseiga from a skeleton and a dream to a living, _breathing_ reality. He'd gone into the real world instead of puttering around in school while the memory of his father died, and he'd _succeeded!_

"This is not about control, _Sesshoumaru-_" Damn her! That was exactly what this was about! Sesshoumaru had dropped out of _her_ Alma Mater and taken up his _father's_ legacy instead- and now that he'd lost that she wasn't going to rest until- _"Sesshoumaru! _How long am I supposed to sit and wait around for you to finally put some effort into Tenseiga?"

"_What?_" What did Tenseiga have to do with this? _Any of it?_

Tenseiga was the only piece of his father's empire that Sesshoumaru's mother hadn't taken from him in their divorce over twenty years ago. While his father had still been alive that restaurant had been something, Sesshoumaru just had no idea _what_ since from the time he was four until he was eighteen he hadn't set foot in the place. By the time he'd come to posses it after his father's death the building and business had withered away into the disgrace that still marred his portfolio. Sesshoumaru had chosen Tetseiga over Tenseiga, what possible reason could his mother have for bringing that rotten shack up now?

"Tenseiga is mine, _Sesshoumaru,_ it symbolized a promise your father never fulfilled to me."A _heavenly life?_ The irony was sick and twisted. "But Tenseiga is, by law, yours." His mother had been leaning forward over her desk, but then pulled back to recline in her sparkling white chair, manicured hands settled regally over the metallic arms beside her. He found her dispassionate green eyes looking into his gold ones, and he knew she could see his fury crackling and burning away just under the surface. "_Touga_ expected you to finish school, and if that fool hadn't died then you would have. The condition in his will was a joke _Sesshoumaru_, nothing more; an idle expectation that you, ironically for his sake, never fulfilled." How _dare_ she sit there and rub his nose in it-_!_ "But _Sesshoumaru-_"

And now she moved to lean forward again, wheeling her chair up so she could lean on one arm and gesture with the other hand. Her sharp nail was pointed at his nose across the distance between them, then came down to scratch the glass surface of her desk. She was trying to make a point, attempt to scare and silence him as if he were still a child. That was no longer the case. Sesshoumaru had tasted independence, he was _never_ going to let her dictate his life again.

"_Either_ my son can challenge that wretched Will in court and take back the Tetseiga _and_ his living-" she was speaking about him as if he weren't even in the _room_ anymore "-or he can finally finish school, abiding by the old fool's wishes, and take back _Tenseiga."_ And then what, _Mother?_ "Unless you intend to become some sort of specialized surgeon, _Sesshoumaru_, completing whatever diploma or degree program you choose will still leave you with more than enough money to cover... anything." Anything? Hardly_._ "You could restore Tenseiga _and_ save your precious Tokijin, _and_ salvage the rest of your finances." She didn't know how much red ink was in Tokijin's books... But that much money would still be enough to salvage his credit.

Sesshoumaru's eyes flashed up to the stranger who was still standing in the office. This '_Kaze'_ didn't seem uncomfortable with sitting in on such a sensitive conversation. It only occurred to him after having the thought that the man probably already knew all of this. Sesshoumaru had been his mother's legal client, she had access to _everything_, and as her assistant Byakuya had probably been the one to _read_ all of it.

"Tell me, _Sesshoumaru_, how close are you to bankruptcy?" Hmph. Not close enough to answer that question. Tossing the bundle of approved schools down on his mother's glass desk, Sesshoumaru stood up in one smooth motion. She just watched him, didn't even sit up or scoot back on her chair, and he looked away from his mother's critical jade eyes to look at her assistant again. Really _look_ at him.

_Damn_.

"This isn't over."

Sesshoumaru turned and walked straight out of his mother's office.

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><p>"Wait!" Sesshoumaru was standing, waiting for the elevator when he heard the man's voice calling after him. He flatly ignored the cry and kept his good hand in his pocket, unwilling to appear as eager to leave as he really was. Sesshoumaru wasn't going to jam his finger on the button trying to make the car come faster. Only idiots thought that worked.<p>

"Inu-Taishou-sama!" Had the cursed thing stalled someplace a dozen floors below them? Sesshoumaru was seriously considering the stairs when his mother's flustered assistant finally caught up and came to a skidding halt behind him. He had no intention of turning around to face the man. "Sir, please- if I could have just a moment of your time then I-"

"I am not interested in whatever my mother's assistant has to say. My appointment with her is over." He glanced, just briefly, back over his shoulder at the indigo-stained lawyer. The man looked confused and possibly a little frightened. Sesshoumaru had walked quickly to get this far, had the young attorney even asked permission before fleeing after him?

"Sir, it has nothing to do with your mother. I'm sorry to trouble you but I-" _Finally:_ the elevator doors slid open with only a whisper of well-hung doors and sound engineering.

"You are troubling me." Sesshoumaru stepped into the hanging metal box and turned around, his hand still in his pocket and his left arm partially hidden under his jacket where it was supposed to be. The man's violet eyes were the wrong colour, but the way his lips were pinched and his brow furrowed just-so was almost enough to make Sesshoumaru begin attacking elevator buttons trying to make the familiar face go away. Not after last night, he did not need this after last-

"When you heard my name back in the office you looked like-" The doors were finally closing- "-look I just got back in the country I-_!_" -and then the idiot stuck his arm out and caused the sliding metal to stop, opening again with a lazy sigh. Sesshoumaru was not as relaxed as the steel, deeply resenting the man for leaning his body against one side of the elevator's mouth, stalling it. "I'm trying to find my sister, sir." How dare this servant- this _spy_ for his mother get in the way of his business, coming after him as though Sesshoumaru should feel compelled to give him aid. There were millions of women in Tokyo, a name as foolish as '_Kaze_' should have been indicative enough to help his search.

"...Sister." Sesshoumaru didn't know the word was on his tongue until it rebelliously passed his lips and reached his disbelieving ears. The legal assistant in front of him looked equally surprised, but didn't dally.

"Her name is Kagura Onigumo, sir, but she may have changed her surname." To Kaze? That simply wasn't possible. It was incomprehensible that of _all_ the people for him to meet, and of all the _times_ for it to happen, it had to be right after- "I apologize again but... I haven't had much luck." And now _that_ sounded suspicious. He cut the annoying man off as he babbled something about Sesshoumaru looking distracted. Idiot.

"What lawyer loses his own sister?" There was open conflict on Byakuya's face for an instant before the attorney-at-law remembered himself and his training. The flash of guilt and sense of bashful shame were swiftly covered up by a proper mask of rhetorical conditioning.

"We haven't spoken in many years, sir." Many years? This man couldn't have been any older than Sesshoumaru himself. Perhaps even a bit younger. Under his cold stare however the attorney looked like he'd lost the scent of his enquiry, straightening up against the struggling elevator door and stepping back out into the hall. His hands had slid into the pockets of his starched brown trousers, a despondent look creeping up under the mask. If the man was working here then he must have possessed some measurable talent working with the law, but he didn't seem as capable as Sesshoumaru expected from his mother's personnel, at least not when it came to his own family.

Sesshoumaru refused to feel any kinship with his ex's supposedly-estranged brother.

"Pardon me again for stalling you." Their voices were nothing alike, but there was too much over-lap for Sesshoumaru to convince himself that he wasn't looking at one of Kagura's relations. But the man had clearly given up on him, and probably felt like a fool for chasing down and delaying him like this- good. Sesshoumaru watched the doors to the elevator re-appear once again, prepared to let them shut and seal him away from the spectre working in his mother's practice.

Kagura's life was none of his concern. They had made that _painfully_ clear to one another last night.

_'...Damn it.'_

Sesshoumaru's foot connected with the inside edge of the doors, the Italian leather buckling slightly with the pressure of two steel slabs before they abruptly opened again; the gears yawning on either side of him. There were several lights blinking overhead to show how many floors were waiting for the lift to run up and down and ferry people between offices and the lobby. Sesshoumaru stepped back out onto the pale slate floor of his mother's extended practice, hand still in his pocket and lame arm still resting uselessly in its sling.

Kagura's brother had stopped walking when he heard the doors refuse to close again, and glanced back to see Sesshoumaru bitterly working to overcome the different emotions brought on by last night and this afternoon. Finally, he managed:

"Do you know about the baby?"

Her life was none of his concern, but Sesshoumaru still wanted answers.

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><p><strong>For the reader's benefit, forty-million yen is <em>roughly<em> equivalent to half a million dollars. It was lower than that at first, but meh.**

**No more double-updates for TC! This is a very good thing actually, because my double-updates are usually ridiculously short. From 19 on to 30 (which is where I currently am) all chapters are 7 or more pages long. Yay for length!**

**See you guys Wednesday! Leave a review!**


	20. Hakudoshi, November 3rd

**Reflection.**

**INTRODUCING: Sub-plot!**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Hakudoshi: November 3rd

It's second term of Hakudoshi's last year of middle school, and people know not to talk to him. Teachers, students, secretaries- Hakudoshi's one of those kids you just don't talk to, because he doesn't want to talk to you, and he won't put up with your stupidity if you try.

Things changed last December, because a year ago he had friends who he talked to, and who talked to him. He was friends with Kinka and Ginka, twins who spend more time smoking behind the tennis courts than in class, and Shuran and Karan, a brother and sister from a big family sort of like Haku's, but a little less fucked up. Shuran is a giant idiot who's failed twice in different years- once back in elementary where it doesn't count, and again in middle school, making him a whopping seventeen with a couldn't-care-less attitude. His sister was like him, just less stupid.

He'd liked Karan. Liked. Past tense. Hakudoshi'd been out of school for two weeks back in December, and came back in the middle of their second year with teachers hovering around, frequent calls to the principal's office, and less than normal to say. His friends hadn't said anything for a few days, then Karan finally cornered him after school and jabbed a finger at his face; the place where Naraku had scored him with the knife.

Not a knife: _the_ knife.

"So who'd you beat up an' make em suspend you for?" Karan's family was from the continent, that was why her and Shuran had lighter coloured hair- although Karan probably dyed hers that violent shade of red. She was the kind of girl who rolled her skirt at the waist so it came up real high on her legs, and who always kept the collar of her shirt unbuttoned. Tanned, athletic- but not in any of the school's sports. School teams were lame.

"I wasn't suspended."

"_Bull! _C'mon, where've you been all week?" Police stations, court-houses, sitting in that god-awful house where his mother's blood had soaked right through the floor, the stink filling the air like a ghost that wouldn't go away.

"I don't wanna talk about it." He still remembers standing there out by the tennis-courts, his hands balled up in fists in the black pockets of his school's winter uniform. It was cold out, the sun had already been setting and the sky had been red. Red like Karan's hair and the blood-stain on the living room floor.

"Aw man, did your mom go all to pieces or something and bitch about-?"

"Don't you talk _shit _about my mother!" Hakudoshi hadn't felt the rage build, it had just been there, appeared through the dusk and crashed down on him. He didn't even say the real words out-loud, the ones that flashed through his mind and almost made him choke. Kikyo was dead. His mother was _dead. _It was the first time he actually admitted the thought to himself, boldly stated in his mind that she was _ dead_ and she was never coming back again, that she wasn't sitting in some shelter and she wasn't going to try for the last time to run away and take him and his siblings with her.

Kikyo hadn't escaped from his father: he'd _killed_ her. That thought made reality slam into him like he'd been blind-sided by a train.

Yeah, he'd bitched about Kikyo before, she was his mother but she'd been damn weak as a person. Never standing up to Naraku, never asserting herself, never putting him in his place or fighting back when he got into one of his moods. He'd grown up watching his father walk all over his mother, so he'd started doing the same thing: Kikyo didn't want him hanging out with Ginka and his brother? It wasn't like she'd ever _do _anything about it so fuck her, he'd gone. He'd cut classes with Kinka and stay out with Shuran; Kagura did worse shit than him anyways.

But Hakudoshi still remembers what it was like hearing Karan talk about his mother- his _dead_ mother. He still remembers how fucking _mad_ it made him to have her talk about something she didn't know about- something he probably could have explained better, but fuck it Kikyo's ashes hadn't even been _cold_ yet.

His mother had been too weak to stand up to Naraku, but Haku was worse because he'd been too powerless to _stop _Naraku. He hadn't called the cops, Kagura had. He hadn't stopped Naraku from driving that old knife into his mother- what was it? Four times? No one had stopped that. But it was Kagura who got him out of the way when that bloody knife came at Haku's face. It was Kagura who'd borne the brunt of Naraku's drunken rage after Haku took a hit that made him go cross-eyed and lay in a daze on the kitchen floor.

And it was the cops who stopped Naraku from committing a double-homicide. And it was the cops who found Kanna hiding in her closet, holding the crying infant with tears on her face. Naraku had been a shitty father and a crappy husband, but Hakudoshi'd failed in every way to be a proper brother.

It took him until that moment, screaming at Karan (because he was definitely screaming), for him to realize how completely _stupid _he'd been. He should have been in Kanna's room, or if he'd had to try and protect his mother then he should have fucking grabbed something to use as a weapon- not taken a massive cut up his arm trying to fight a knife-wielding murderer. He should have been protecting his family, not running ahead trying to get himself killed.

So it took him until that moment, in mid-December, for Hakudoshi to suddenly grow up. He'd been told to attend counselling sessions at the school and had blown off two of them at that point- but after Karan ran away from him and the next day he had his clock cleaned by Shuran, Haku started going into that little white-washed office like he was supposed to. The advice had been bullshit, nothing but fucking common sense.

_"If you're sister's working maybe you should try helping out around the house?"_ So he started doing the dishes, sometimes, when he didn't have- _"Your marks they... aren't very strong..."_

Erg.

"I don't have the marks for high school."

"Eh, don't you still have a year and a half left?" So half of middle school, yeah, but-

"I want to work." He'd been at home with Kagura at this point- home being their crappy, tiny, way-too-small apartment that was two buses and a train-ride from his school and Kanna's. He still remembers the conversation: Kagura had been sitting on their new couch, holding the baby who'd already fallen asleep. Kanna had gone to bed already. "If I just quit now and find a job somewhere then-"

"You're fourteen, you'll make less than I do." She'd said, big black bags under her eyes and a mall-uniform's white shirt slowly getting soaked in baby drool. "It's better for them if you stay in school." By them she somehow meant Kanna and the baby, looking down at the infant for a moment as she spoke.

He'd never seen her hold the baby before Kikyo died.

"I don't have the _marks._"

"Then fix your marks, or are you saying you're too stupid for school?" _Pah!_ School was easy! He could walk through it with an A with his eyes closed if he wanted to! He just _didn't _because there was no _point_ if-

"We need the _money._"

"No, we don't." The baby had gone in his cradle and woken up as he left his sister's warm shoulder. Kagura had stood up and lorded over the fact that she was- or at the time _had been_, taller than him. "You let _me_ handle the money, _you_ finish middle school and get into-"

"You're already working two jobs and we _barely_make rent!"

"That's why I'm putting money in the bank! I'm not scrounging for pennies 'cause I think it's fun, Haku."

"If I _work_-"

"If you drop out you fuck with his life!" Those words had startled him because Hakudoshi hadn't understood them, but he'd followed Kagura's hand where she was pointing at the bassinet sitting in the middle of their living room. Their baby brother had started whimpering when they raised their voices, but Kagura ignored the infant, her eyes fixed on him instead for a moment before she continued. "You're fifteen in a month, Haku, in _three years_ you're free." Free? "Kanna has _seven years_ until she's _free._" What the hell was she-? "But in seven years, Haku, you need to be finishing with college- I don't care_ what_ college, I don't care _where_ it is or _what_ you study or _how well_ you do, but you need to do it!"

Kagura was ramming off points with her fingers, and Hakudoshi was about to yell back at her when she cut him off again, this time pointing down the hall towards Kanna's room.

"And Kanna has to be _starting_ college, or university, or night-school or _whatever. _Because in _seven years, _Haku, I need to _prove_ that I can take care of you! I have to be able to point at you, and Kanna, and tell a court, or a panel or an interviewer or _whatever_ that I took care of a fourteen-year-old and an eleven-year-old!" Her eyes were _wild_, he still remembers that. They'd been wild with fear, a terror that had just grown stronger every time she saw him start to open his mouth to talk back- to argue with her. "I have to show them that in seven years I didn't fuck up with you two, that I raised you _better _than Naraku raised me! Because if I _can't_, Haku-!"

She was touching his shoulders, he remembers that too. Kagura wasn't big on hugging- she is _now_, with Kanna, with the baby, but at the time he's remembering she was still just his half-sister. She was still just that older girl who used to make him micro-wave noodles when he was hungry or who told Kikyo to screw off because she wasn't Kagura's real mother. She still didn't like to hug or touch, and she hadn't known things yet like how Hakudoshi can't stand baby-corn in _anything_ because it's nasty, and Kanna won't eat shrimp unless it's fried with curry powder. But she'd touched his shoulders, and she'd _almost_ cried in front of him, and the sight of that person he still hadn't known breaking down like that had scared him. _Really_ scared him.

"If I can't prove it, if I can't _do _it- I won't be able to keep him." Keep the baby from... "In seven years you'll be twenty-one, and Kanna will be eighteen-" But the baby would just be seven... The baby... wouldn't be an _adult. "This_ is what I need you to do, this is all that I'm ever going to _need_ you to do." Is finish middle school. Graduate from high school. Get into college.

"Is there even money for...?"

"The house will pay for it." The house- it had been his mother's, so now it was his. His house. He'd sell it when he was eighteen and there would be money. The house would pay for everything.

That's become a sort of mantra in their home. The house will pay for it, Kikyo will pay for it, the house will cover whatever they need that Kagura can't provide: Hakudoshi will do something for his siblings that might make up for that night in the police station. Kagura always says it's their mother still looking out for them, Hakudoshi thinks that's a load but he lets Kagura say it anyways. Sometimes he remembers how scared she looked that night and the way she begged him to just pick up his grades a little bit. She didn't need him on the honour roll and he didn't have to go to the best high school or be the greatest, he just had to succeed so she could hold on to what they had.

So it's okay when she talks about Kikyo like a guardian angel or something, because Kagura's really the one carrying all the weight. If something makes her feel a little better, makes her cry a little less, then okay. It's okay.

Which is why if he ever crosses paths with her new ex, Hakudoshi's already decided he'll take that sleazy cripple down. No, he hadn't liked seeing Kagura stay out way extra-late with that guy, on a Monday, the night before _Kanna's birthday._ Neither of them ever end up sleeping until Kagura gets home at night, even on the weekends where the door doesn't usually open until three or four; long after the club closes. So it was one thing to have Kagura come home so damn late, and he called her on it, but it was something else to hear a knock on the door and then watch that scar-faced ass-hole take one look at the infant and bolt.

He didn't even ask, which meant he didn't want to know, and that he didn't care nearly as much as Kagura thought he would. He wasn't even half the man his sister had started building him up to be.

Hakudoshi knows he should be mad at Kagura, not that Sesshoumaru guy, but he can't help it. He should have been able to lord it over his sister that he'd known better than to trust some creep she met in the hospital- better than to trust anybody at _all_ who wasn't someone they knew like a book from start to finish. Instead he'd just had to stand there last week and watch her and the infant cry in front of the door.

Kanna crept out of her room about that time, still awake and waiting just like him. Great birthday morning for her, but she'd just curled up on the floor next to their sister, who just apologized and wrapped an arm around her. Haku'd joined them, he still doesn't like hugging, and he'd still been mad enough to almost try shouting out one of their windows as the bastard found his car outside, but he sat down with his family instead.

That bastard treated his sister like a whore. He drove her around and did all those fancy things with her, he never bought her flowers or chocolates or anything typical like that, but he took her all around Tokyo. She never came home drunk and Kagura was never over-tired the next morning, Haku was almost starting to be okay with it all. And then she spends one full night with him- and Hakudoshi's not _stupid_, and he drops her like a rock. That rich, over-paid, one-armed bastard treated the only good thing _his_ family has going for it like a piece of trash!

_Bam!_

"Uh... Oni... Onigumo..?"

People at school don't talk to Hakudoshi. He doesn't have any friends- and he doesn't want any either.

Friends are only good if they know you cover to cover like the inside of a good book, but if you're missing even one chapter then they'll bail on you like rats on a sinking ship. There are a lot of missing chapters in Hakudoshi's book, pages he's torn out and hidden away someplace where only he can find.

They're the pages that explain why starting in February of last year his grades pulled a complete one-eighty. He doesn't study, not hard anyways, but he gets his work done now in all of his classes. He doesn't hang around after school and he's not in any sports teams or involved in clubs- those're only mandatory in high school, something he's now trying to get into.

They're the pages that tell the story behind why he blew up at Karan last year. She never came around again to ask him why, and Shuran beat the crap out of him for it and was finally expelled. Ginka and Tinka still smoke behind the tennis courts, but Hakudoshi stopped cutting classes and sticking around late to see them.

People at school don't talk to Hakudoshi, because he's never gonna let any of their sorry, pitiful eyes read the chapters that fuel his wild temper. He doesn't talk in class and teachers don't call on him to answer questions. He excels in sports but he gets picked last because his class-mates find him intimidating. He works his shift after school and on week-ends at WacDonalds and never speaks more than he has to in order to manage his little station.

People at school don't talk to Hakudoshi, because sometimes, like right now, his temper will flare up and his hand will do what it just did: slam into the nearest hard, solid surface. He can't punch through metal so that's why he hit the locker. The last bell chimed about ten minutes ago and all the senior middle school students are switching their shoes and getting ready to go home. Most of them are gone, but enough are still here that they either saw what he just did, or they at least heard it.

"Your hand-"

"I'm fine." Some girl a few lockers down is watching him- she's not the only one, but she's the only person who actually speaks to him instead of just whispering to friends and hustling to get away. He opens his locker again without looking at the speaker, kicking off his shoes before picking them up and swapping them for his outdoor ones. The sneakers're old and starting to fall apart. The sole is coming away along one side and means he has to step around puddles to avoid getting his feet wet. He doesn't care and just stuffs them on anyways, taking out his bag and shutting the metal door again with a lot more care than he showed a-

"It's bleeding." What the-_?_ He shuts the door and she's right there, staring at his fingers.

"Buzz off." He's not interested in making friends, he has enough to deal with and two-faced classmates aren't on the list.

The girl is a bit shorter than him, but that's not much of a surprise: he's gonna be tall like Naraku, he can already see over Kagura's head sometimes when her hair's down. The girl in front of him has a pigtail sticking out the side of her head, her brown-black hair falling full around her shoulders and down her back. She's wearing the usual green and white girls' sailor uniform of their school, the pleated green of her skirt coming down just above her knees, the usual brown shoes and white socks.

"Look at it! You hurt yourself doing that." He looks down from her caramel brown eyes and notices the small cuts on his knuckles from pounding the metal over the small slats built into the door. Fine, there's some blood, but he wears gloves at WacDonald's anyways so it doesn't matter, he'll wash it off at work. "Here, I have bandages."

"Are you new here?" Stupid girl, she's already kneeling with her backpack open and a hand stuffed down between the exercise books and papers. Her face is pink, but it was like that when she got his attention a minute ago, so he doesn't think about it. She stands up again with a small sealed packet with a bandage inside it, and Hakudoshi tosses his bag over his shoulder as he finishes with his locker.

"Nope! Rin Higurashi, I've been here since-" He turns and walks away. "Hey! I'm trying to help you!"

"I don't need help." He passes through the glass and aluminium doors of the coat room and steps into the brisk autumn sunshine. He doesn't have a jacket, it's nippy out and he stuffs his hands inside his pockets, his right one hurting as he curls his fingers and holds them tight where they'll be warm. There's orange sunlight cutting between the buildings across the street, some noisy traffic outside the school yard wall, but he just lets the sun warm his face for a few seconds before he starts walking.

He's almost down to the street when he hears running footsteps behind him. He expects whoever it is to just blaze past him on their way home or to catch friends, but it's that girl again and she stops right behind him.

"You're that guy who always sits in the back, right?" He stops, but just so he can give her a black look over his shoulder. She answers it with a goofy white smile, hands running up the front of a bright orange winter-coat she's wearing now. "Hakudoshi Onigumo, right? You're on the honour roll you know! Everybody sounded really surprised when they-"

"Don't make up lies." Honour roll? Him? Yes his marks are an improvement over last year, and yes the assignments he gets back have some surprisingly high numbers on them at times, but that doesn't mean-

"Here, see for yourself!" Rin's backpack swings around and the girl digs her hand inside again, this time pulling out- is that the school paper? People actually read that? "Page eight!" Page eight, whatever, he takes the folded and stapled booklet and turns it to the right number, noting the article title and skimming his eyes down the list of names. Some are familiar- not people he knows but students whose names he's heard before. He even sees her surname: Higurashi Souta and Higurashi Rin, probably a brother of hers or a cousin or something. Then he keeps going.

Onigumo H.? That's his name, it's right there. Kanna's still in elementary until next year- he's the only member of his family here at this school. There's no other Onigumo here, it's not a common name, he-

"See? So, maybe you won't worry so much about school?" He feels something on the back of his hand and looks away from the paper to see Rin's hands pulling away from his, a little blue bandage stuck over his skin now and covering the burning sore. "See you tomorrow!"

She's running again before he can get over the fact that his name, an obvious typo, is sitting on the school's honour roll, or the fact that there's a blue puppy bandage sticking to his hand. Hakudoshi also ends up staring straight into the amber light as he tries looking after her, and has to suffer with the blinding after-image until she's too far gone for him to figure out which direction she sped off in.

And he's also left holding her copy of the school paper, something he realizes isn't a problem after he catches sight of her name on the back; she's one of the editors.

Hakudoshi isn't too sure what the odd feeling in his hand is, but he's pretty sure it's just the bruise spreading around his fingers and down between the knuckles. This answer satisfies him, so he heads off to work.

He made the honour roll.

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><p><strong>Not gonna lie, originally Rin was gonna be Sesshoumaru's dog but then I changed up his situation in the story and realized a pet wouldn't work. So she gets to be Kagome's new little sibling- woo~!<strong>


	21. The Workplace

**My December (Remix), Sad Inuyasha playlist, California King Bed.**

**This story, it is so long. I'm currently working around the 32 mark but I know it's just gonna keep growing. Probably my fault since I keep adding content and funny little chapters, but omg xD**

**Sorry for updating so late, I slept in until like 2 in the afternoon and then waffled around doing other stuff before firing up the laptop.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

The Work-Place

"Excellent practice, ladies! I couldn't have done better myself!"

Kagura's week days from ten till three were spent at the Tetseiga, excluding Mondays that she had off and Fridays where she came in by eight for an evening of dancing and performance. Most clubs stayed open all week and changed their hours on the weekend, but Tetseiga was in that upper-class of clubs and party venues that only had to be open select hours during the week- mostly private functions and the upstairs restaurant, and then made most of its money only on the weekend. Dancers were only needed for those three big parties a week.

But that was why the dancers had a new routine every week, although after six months here at the Tetseiga Kagura had learned to recognize the patterns and rotations in the routines. Each one _was_ different, and came with a unique set of props and colours that were never paired together more than once, but there were still foundational moves and transitions that made it possible to change things up.

It was Thursday and Kagura was towelling off her face and neck as Jakotsu, who still managed all the choreography while his brother played with the music from his booth, clapped and tittered happily. She was able to hop down off the stage after Yura, her usual partner in most routines, and file neatly into the dressing room to fix herself up and go home.

It had been just over a week since she'd last spoken to Sesshoumaru. She'd tried calling him, but it hadn't worked: it was also _'tried'_ as in she'd stared at her phone and physically tried to work up the nerve to call. He rarely called her first, they'd gone out for a month or two and she could only think of two, no more than three conversations he'd initiated- counting the original call to ask her out. But there had been a lot of phone calls in those few weeks.

Kagura'd rationalized it down to the fact that she'd come on too strong, she'd liked having that one person to talk to way too much and that had been the end of it. Seeing the infant had just been the final strike, and he'd walked. She'd gone through the agonizing process of this self-reflection this past Monday, when she hadn't been sure what would happen at seven, so she'd gone down into the lobby- _just in case_, at six-thirty.

And waited.

He hadn't called her in a week, there'd been no contact at all. Seven o'clock rolled around and the parking lot had remained empty. Some people who lived in the building had passed by, but Kagura hadn't gotten dressed up or anything so she wasn't a someone to stare at as she loitered in the foyer. At seven-thirty there was still nothing, eight o'clock, nothing, at eight-thirty Hakudoshi came down and just sat on the steps without saying anything. At nine Kanna came down and the three of them went back upstairs so the baby wouldn't be left alone.

So, yeah, her week had pretty much sucked. She'd get through it, lesser people had suffered worse fates.

"_Hear ye_, _hear ye!_" Hear what? Kagura was seated in front of one of the big vanity mirrors in the dressing room, drinking some of her water as she turned to stare at Jakotsu. He was probably the only man who could walk through the dressing room with absolutely no teasing or cat-calling. Inuyasha came in during working hours of course, but unless he was really focused on something the girls could usually get a rise out of him. Kagura participated too sometimes, because why the hell not? "Ladies I call this meeting to order!"

"Meeting?"

"Finally!" Abi was the first one to speak up, and Kagura blinked as she heard cheers and clapping around the small room. Looking around, her co-workers were all looking... at her? Uh oh...

"Yes!" Jakotsu announced, lifting his arms, then pointed at Kagura. "This is the fourth meeting of the _'Kagura De-glooming'_ Committee!"

"_Fourth?"_ Because if she tried attacking the committee's name that would, with Jakotsu, get her nowhere. Instead she just had to jump as Yura sauntered up behind Kagura's chair and draped her slender arms over the seated woman's shoulders. Great. The brunet's tee-shirt had been shed but not replaced yet and she leaned down and nuzzled the side of Kagura's head like a cat. It was creepy, but that was Yura.

"Honey, we need to get you laid..."

"Uh, no?"

"Of course we do!" Abi spoke up loudly, the auburn-headed girl standing up with her copper locks falling out of the tight bun she'd pinned behind her head for practice. Abi was already zipping up the black mini-skirt she'd come into work wearing, hiking up her thick leather boots that hugged her ankles and zipped up her calves. "We need a girls' night out, that'll getcha back on your feet!"

"Ladies, I'm fine." Kagura went back to drinking her water and then pulled the tie out of her hair, picking up a brush and running the bristles through the ever-tangled black strands. "Really."

"Psh, we'll find you some nice, cute boy so you can _finally_-"

"Yura, just I came _out_ of a relationship." Handing the brush over as Yura tried no less than three times to snatch it out of her grasp, Kagura folded her arms and hooked one leg over the other in her chair, leaning back with her eyes shut as she heard the outraged gasps behind and beside her. Yura actually went so far as to drop the brush on the floor, Abi hobbling her way over with her other big black boot hanging in her hand.

"You were dating! ? When? Who?" Yes, last month, and some guy. "Why didn't you tell anyone! ?"

"Ooh, poor Kagura-chan!" Oh no, and now Jakotsu was right up in the action too. The man came over and physically turned Kagura's chair around so he could kneel on the floor and take up her hands like he was proposing. "Your dear heart must be in pieces, and we, your friends, didn't even know!"

"Stop being creepy."

"That's it! We're going out!" Again, no. Kagura worked her hands free of Jakotsu's possibly-well-meaning grasp and folded her arms again, letting Yura slap her shoulder as she made the announcement. "We dance tonight, sleep tomorrow, then perform tomorrow night! It's perfect!" Yeah, except for one thing.

"Sounds great, but I need to go home."

"No! Bad, Kagura! We're having fun tonight!" Abi was still standing next to her, shaking her head and lowering herself down to Kagura's eye level. "And I know just where we're gonna go too."

"_Abi."_

"_Kagu._" Ugh, that was such a stupid nick-name. "What do you have that's so important at home anyways?"

"None of your business."

"Ooh! I bet it's whatever the boss keeps bugging her about! Isn't it, Kagu?" _Kagu_ sounded like something the infant would say, and she snatched the comb out of Yura's hands and started fixing her hair on her own. The catty woman was far too interested in the gossip. "_C'mon!_ You never go out with us! It'll be fun! Where're we gonna go, Abi?"

"Remember that new place that opened up on the east side?"

"That Toki place?" Toki?

"Toki_jin_, yes!" Kagura went back through previous gossip sessions and plucked the name out of the ether. Right, it was supposed to be some skanky little place not too far from where her apartment was. Why on earth would Abi wanna dance out there? "Because that's where all the _bad_ boys are, obviously!" Obviously...

"Whatever." Kagura turned back to her mirror, hair finished and tie at the ready as she spun the black length up and twisted it around properly. Yura pounced.

"Whatever-yes?"

"No!" Standing up suddenly, _now_ they were getting annoying. Kagura picked her bag up off the floor and tossed her brush inside, then the towel that was still around her shoulders. She ripped her jacket off the back of her chair and started for the door, but Jakotsu was there dogging her ever step.

"Kagura you _never_-"

"I never drink, I don't date, and I don't party. I know what I _don't_ do, Jak." He could tell she was getting mad just by the way she was walking, never-mind the sound of her voice, and Kagura knew he was backing off when he moved away enough that he wasn't directly in her face. He also wasn't grinning like a fool, which is a good sign that Jakotsu _might_ be taking the situation seriously.

"You dated that other guy-"

"That was _different._" She stopped, she didn't want to but she stopped walking and turned on him properly.

There was an audience. Yura and Abi and a few other girls who hadn't been nagging her as openly, but they were all still watching and had been nodding and yeah-ing along with the plans to go out. There was a _big_ audience of Kagura's co-workers, but she wanted this to be the _only_ time this happened. She'd had a scene with her co-workers when she worked in the mall, and she was prepared for another scene here and now, but it's not going to happen again after this.

"I made a _mistake_ and I went on a date with some ass-hole who knew a couple clever lines and had a pretty smile. And I had a good time, so I went on another date, and another, and then another, and then I-" She pursed her lips, she curled them in and bit hard enough that she could feel the blood squeeze out of them. Kagura couldn't look around behind her at the other girls, who were all silent listening to her explain. And she couldn't even look at Jakotsu straight because he seemed openly concerned, watching as she felt her jaw shake and bit a little harder on her lips to keep the reaction from growing.

He knew she had issues at home, Kagura'd never told him _what_ exactly, but she'd come in for private lessons with him for over two months before finally getting the call in to try out for the Tetseiga. Kagura could only hope that he hadn't gone to Inuyasha or their boss's girlfriend, Kagome, and found out about the infant. If he had then bless him for never asking her about it, and if he chose now to do so Kagura'd have to do something drastic to get him off the scent.

She was _not_ a single mother. Kagura was not some stupid girl who'd gotten herself knocked up in high school. And she wasn't some smart woman who'd been caught off-guard by a surprise moment of intimacy at the wrong time of month. And she wasn't moral enough to get trapped in an ethical box even if she _had_ gotten pregnant at some point. Kagura hadn't made a mistake, she'd taken responsibility, and people were either going to stop fucking _pitying her_ over it, or they were gonna follow Sesshoumaru's example and just _get out_ of her life.

"Look, Jak-" _and-_ "-and you guys too!" She didn't turn around, just flung her arm to the side and back, because she knew the other girls were still watching and listening. "Look, I don't..."

For once Jakotsu wasn't giving her the puppy eyes, his expression was sombre and his hands were tucked into the pockets of his jeans. He was dressed pretty tame too, but that was what rehearsals were for; just a yellow tee with a peace-sign in green, then a blue pin-stripe shirt tossed on over that and left un-tucked and unbuttoned over his jeans.

"I don't go home to shouting, and drinking, and fighting and shit like that. I used to- I don't anymore." Almost a year, it had almost been a full year. "I don't go home to something big and bad that I need to be saved from or anything; Inuyasha's just a bleeding heart who won't get over himself." And one who was _never_ going to get the full story from her. Maybe if she quit someday, for some reason, or maybe when the infant was old enough to go to school in another five years. One day maybe she'd just walk in with the kid and Kanna in tow and freak Inuyasha out. "I don't need help, I'm fine, I'm just on my own."

Because it wasn't fair for her to rely too much on Hakudoshi. He didn't deserve to be tethered to the apartment just because she felt like going out and having some fun. She'd done that dating Sesshoumaru, she'd done it the night her boyfriend dumped her. Every now and again? Fine, she'd leave him with the responsibility of looking after their siblings for the night, but she'd just come out of a break-up she should have seen coming from a mile off, so tonight was way too soon for her to toss aside the responsibility again. She'd had her fun for the next little while.

"You know you don't _have_ to do whatever it is alone, right?" Jakotsu's voice was mild, a very odd sound, but Kagura just shrugged. She could feel herself coming back under control and let her eyes roll up and examine the ceiling for a moment, coming back down on her former dance instructor.

"My boyfriend wanted nothing to do with it, s'not something I can just force on my friends." He'd wanted out so bad after he saw the baby he hadn't even _pretended_ things were okay. "Most of the people I've known didn't have what it took to be any help. So just drop it, okay?" He didn't like this, but he took the words with salt and then offered his own, slow, shrug.

Kagura glanced back over her shoulder at her other co-workers, the other dancers. Yura had a shirt on at last and was zipping up her layered black-and-red winter jacket. Abi had been almost ready to run out when the conversation got serious anyways. They were still watching her, and Kagura had a feeling, judging by the expressions both women wore, that they were coming to their own conclusions in their heads. They'd be the wrong conclusions, about things friends can't help with and that scare boyfriends away, but Kagura wasn't going to go into details.

"You guys have fun at that club tonight." The Doki-whatever. Jakotsu finally let her out of the change-room, Kagura shouldering open the door as she heard a couple sober _'bye'_s and unhappy farewells from the other women she was leaving behind.

There was light coming in through the windows on the second floor. Bankotsu was still sitting up in his booth despite the speakers being off- lost in his mixes and twists. She didn't mind that he didn't return her wave, or even see it for that matter, and just started for the exit when she heard the door to Inuyasha's office open and saw her boss and another man step out. They were speaking in low voices, and Kagura couldn't see who the second guy was, so she just gave them a wider berth as she focused back on the-

"Hey, Kagura." _Great_, what now? She stopped and looked at her boss, he had his grim _'this means business'_ face on. "There's someone here who-"

"Kagura-"

Oh.

What?

He shouldn't be...

Kagura felt the feeling drain out of her limbs slowly, until it felt like she was just a head hanging in the air. It wasn't fear that made her freeze or some overwhelming sense of dread, but the dread was there. It was in her blood along with a myriad of other feelings that Kagura couldn't name and didn't want to think about. The man who'd been speaking to her boss stepped out and spoke to her, and she felt the sudden, crushing need to run away.

It wasn't Sesshoumaru, was that a good thing? This man was only a little bit taller than she was. His hair was black with familiar violet undertones, his eyes holding the same lavender colour as her half-brothers Hakudoshi and the infant. He was slender though, almost feminine: he looked more like their father than she did, and Kagura in turn looked more like their mother. Their mother, because they shared one.

"Byakuya." He shouldn't be here. Byakuya wasn't _allowed_ to be here. This was her space, this was where _she_ worked: this was something that belonged to her that he didn't get to have, him in his sharp looking suit and manicured nails. He didn't get to look so comfortable coming out of her boss's office with his violet-stained hair tied back behind the top of his head, the locks only long enough to hover over the collar of his starched white shirt.

"You've changed..." Changed? Of course she'd changed she- it had been- no, count back. Stay calm and just count back slowly, she was twenty-two now, she'd been six then... Kagura was good with numbers, it shouldn't have taken her so long to-

"Sixteen." Years. He took a step closer to her and Kagura instinctively took one back, spitting out the number instead. She had one hand frozen in her pocket and the other one clutching the strap of her back-pack. How dare he show up here, how _dare_ he show up at all. "Why are you here?"

"Looking for you, I-"

"Get out." Kagura was leaving, her response was stupid. She should have been telling him to stay here, not leave, but this was her place, her job, her world, not his. She watched him, her brother? Her _full_ brother? She watched him stop and stare, watched him have the gall to look almost disappointed. But her boss was still there, and Kagura heard his rough, grating voice speak up from behind the other man.

"_Hey, I don't like the way this's going. Why don't you-"_ One hand touched her brother's arm and Byakuya suddenly turned around.

"She's my _sister._"

"_Bullshit!_" That word came out _loud_. Her voice was loud enough to jar Bankotsu where he was reclining in his booth- she heard the wheels of his chair slam the stage floor and almost toss him. The door to the change room was propped open too, no one coming out but she could feel curious eyes watching her. Inuyasha's was one set, but at least Byakuya didn't have the audacity to be confused. He looked grim though, almost disturbed, maybe almost hurt, but she really couldn't say she cared.

"Kagura-" No! She wasn't going to talk to him, least of all here where she didn't want to be.

"_Look, pal, you'd better just leave for now."_

"Unhand me- _Kagura!_" Kagura turned and was heading straight for the door, she didn't want to say anything, she wasn't going to _do_ anything; just go home. And she'd take a different route in case he followed her- and he'd _better not _follow her! She'd had her scene, that was good enough: one scene and only one in front of co-workers and her boss, just one break in conduct in the place where she came to make money and do what she loved.

He had no right to be here.

"Kagura- mother's dead!" She hated herself for stopping, her hand on the door and was just about to push and let herself out into the sunlight. Kagura hated that she felt like she had to stop and hear him out, hated that she didn't know what to say- too much and nothing came to mind. She could laugh, cry, yell or just brush it off. They all felt like valid reactions to her. But she couldn't stall, she wasn't gonna give him that inch.

"Yeah, I know." So Kagura turned around with something else. She looked her full brother in the eye where he was still standing in front of her grumbling, clearly pissed off boss, the two of them still across the floor standing by the bar. So Kagura finished with: "He put her in the ground last year."

She opened the door with her back and vanished outside, hands in her jacket pockets. Fuck him, she used her name but Kagu_ya_ Kaze was no longer Kagu_ra_ Kaze's mother.

* * *

><p>"So... it didn't go very well."There was silence on the other end of the line, but Byakuya wasn't going to let himself be discouraged by this. He kept his cell up to his ear and sighed. "I don't suppose you would have-"<p>

"_Her address?"_

"It's stupid, I know..." And why would his boss's son know where his sister lived anyways? Byakuya considered this bizarre little conundrum from where he was sitting at a local WacDonalds. Checkered black-and-white floors, yellow, red and white plastic seating, very bright florescent lighting and a lot of heavy rush-hour traffic streaming by the window to his left. Sitting in front of him wasn't the most nutritious dinner, but the suit-and-tie'd man just munched on his fries and waited for the brush-off from the man on the line.

His attempt to speak to Kagura had actually, at best, come off as disastrous. For one, she had a terribly nosey boss and he had been required to quote the law at the man to make him back off. Kagura's personal life and his relationship to that life was absolutely none of her employer's business, and if it was then Mister Charleston-Taishou and Kagura were perfectly within their rights to discuss matters privately. But Byakuya was not going to go there with a stranger. He'd discussed, just once, only a little bit, with the man he was on the phone with now, but that was because Bya had to start somewhere, so it might as well be through connections at work.

Another greasy stick of salt was guiltlessly consumed before he got a response from Sesshoumaru.

"_...Go on a Monday. She's at-"_ Byakuya almost fell out of his seat, searching for a pen in his briefcase, pinning a napkin under his elbow so he could write on it. It would be too much to expect Mr. Inu-Taishou to go repeating himself! "_Keep me informed."_ Huh?

"What? Why would I-?" There was a beep on the other end before Bya choked the question (and a bit of fry) out into his phone: he'd just been hung-up on.

The young lawyer reclaimed his plastic bench seat and stared at the traitorous numbers flashing at him: the length of the call and the combination for Sesshoumaru's cell. Something deeply personal came to light and Byakuya found himself hesitant to approve, in fact he felt down-right cautious now. But alright: the connection had been terminated, and the man he'd been speaking to was his boss's son, so maybe the fact that he'd hung up was okay. He wasn't too sure, but at least the dropped call gave Byakuya the freedom to exclaim:

"How do you even _know_ her apartment number?" -without getting fired.

* * *

><p><strong>No joke, I feel like I'm writing a soap-opera.<strong>


	22. Misdirected

**Whole playlist, Let Love In.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Misdirected

The first Monday after he broke up with her was, for some reason, quite challenging to get through. Sesshoumaru had worked well past seven o'clock, made several phone calls throughout the evening and kept himself quite busy.

In his car.

He didn't drive anywhere, he didn't even have the keys in the ignition. Working in his car was incredibly cramped- almost claustrophobic, and completely ill-suited to his one-handed style of doing anything. Papers repeatedly fell from his lap down near the silent pedals, or they toppled into the back seat and he had to get out and find them, leaning over without the ability to brace himself and grope around at the same time.

The only time he left the underground parking and his reserved stall was when he realized he needed coffee to finish crunching numbers. Any other person would have simply returned upstairs to their home and made up a pot, but any other person would not have been _distinctly_ aware of what he had done _last_ Monday night, at quarter-to-eight in the evening, in that condo.

Navigating his own place in the pitch-black wake of having his electricity cut- something which had since been restored thanks to minimum payments on his credit card, should not have haunted Sesshoumaru away from his own property. He wasn't allowed to think of it as home anymore, this was true, but he still had every legal right to go up and use his own appliances.

He was selling the condo, and that was related to the work he was doing. In his car. Because it was eight on a Monday night and he wasn't going anywhere. He was selling the condo because he had to, and Sesshoumaru had bluntly stated that Toran was not to try finding him a newer, bigger, _better_ condo anywhere else in the city. She wasn't going to track down bachelor pads or lofts, he said he was looking for a change in scenery, but that didn't mean he wanted to move out to an artist's district or closer to the business sector. And he wasn't leaving Tokyo, he was selling his condo.

If he could have, Sesshoumaru would have just lived at the Tokijin. However, unlike the Tetseiga there was no fully-functioning bathroom at the new club which could facilitate the owner spending untold days and nights sleeping in his office with none the wiser. So he needed to find an alternative.

No bank this side of the Pacific would trust him with a loan to buy another place to live, ownership was completely out of the question. The money from the condo was going to go straight into attacking the monstrous debt the Tokijin had amassed and was only just chipping away at. Whatever was left over after stabilizing the club would go towards settling the creditors who were growing more and more persistent. There wasn't going to be much left over after his finances were settled, and all he could do was hope that Jaken respected and still feared him enough not to breathe a word of the red ink to anyone. Not even his god.

So for the time being, he was in a fix. Sesshoumaru knew no one who he could even_ pretend_ he was alright with trying to room with. He wasn't going to sleep on anyone's couch, or take a guest bedroom, and there was no conceivable way in which he would ever, _dare_, return to his mother's home and try to settle into his old room. He'd sleep in his car before he submitted himself to that level of humiliation.

Renting was only a step above curling up in the back-seat. He couldn't hope to afford living in a hotel for more than a few weeks, not even a seedy motel somewhere in a darker part of town. And if he tried that anyways then he'd just wake up to find his car with no doors, wheels, frame or engine: just a few lengths of rubber tubing and some seats.

The week after he met her brother, Sesshoumaru was driving and trying to find some place he could tolerate living in for the next few months. He was not going to share _anything._ No shared rooms, appliances, or doors. He did not want to see _anyone_, _anywhere_, unless they were specifically invited by him or otherwise there to conduct some manner of serious business _with Sesshoumaru himself._

He was still searching another week later, hiding every nuance of anxiety as he sat down to another mid-day coffee luncheon with his mother's assistant; his ex-girlfriend's brother.

"That woman won't speak to me until she has to." Byakuya had his chin resting on the heel of his palm, absently stirring the coffee in his tall paper cup with a wooden stick. He was looking at Sesshoumaru, but not really, his gaze frequently sliding off and away into the corner, gazing at nothing. "Maybe I shouldn't blame her."

"Then why persist?" He still hadn't worked the story out of the man, he still didn't know what was going on. Apparently Kagura's surname was supposed to be Onigumo, but she'd changed it to Kaze, which was Byakuya's surname- something he'd also changed. Their parents had not split peaceably.

Byakuya wasn't quite an enigma wrapped in a riddle surrounded by mystery, but like his sister he was extremely private and adept at shutting down a conversation before it could begin. Sesshoumaru didn't find the man's blunt denial of the subject endearing, in fact, he hardly tolerated it. The problem was that despite not seeing, speaking, or communicating with Kagura in any way for two weeks, Sesshoumaru was still thinking about her.

Every day, every time he pulled out his phone. It didn't matter why he did it- to answer a question from his realtor, to ignore a creditor, to address a problem at the Tokijin, if Sesshoumaru touched his phone he immediately checked to see if he'd missed one of her calls. Every single time he answered his phone without checking the number first, he always expected to hear her voice. It wasn't quite as desperate a hope as the stirring memories shortly after his release from the hospital, that intense curiosity and sense of intrigue. But there was a sense of loss that accompanied him every time he failed to see that familiar set of numbers flash across the screen.

It occurred to him several times to just call her himself, that waiting would just make things worse, or would keep it from happening at all. But something compelled him to hold off, some sense of pride that refused to bend in the wake of everything else that was happening. His success was a swiftly fading memory, the foundations crumbling faster than he could keep building on top of them. Sesshoumaru was starting over again financially, falling off the ladder and struggling to get back on before he wound up too far in the red to ever think of investments or successes or freedoms again.

He was already humbling himself, he was already changing his life, he was already coping. Going back to his ex and grovelling for a second chance was not an option at this point. He would not do it. Even if he wanted to see her, even if he wanted to talk, he wasn't going to go in blind again. Sesshoumaru refused to let her hang that over him: the fact that he didn't know anything and that he needed her to turn on the light and help him figure out what exactly was going on. He wouldn't do it. No going out on a limb and trusting himself to land on his feet if he fell- this wasn't high school, it wasn't an adventure, he wasn't going to let himself be played like a fool again.

So he had coffee with Byakuya, who had taken news of the baby in a wild and confused manner almost two weeks earlier. He'd paced and muttered to himself, run his hands through his hair and rubbed his eyes, hissing through his teeth like he was in pain. Perhaps that was just the response an older brother should have at hearing about a sister's unexpected pregnancy. Sesshoumaru only had a half-brother. If Inuyasha got his girlfriend pregnant then that was none of Sesshoumaru's business or concern. Maybe it was different if you had a sister.

"...I haven't seen her since I was nine."

The words hung in the air for a moment, disturbed by the sounds of people walking in and out of the small sunlit cafe where they were sitting. Mid-November sunlight was spilling in through the window at their side, the diner hanging in the city skyline several floors below his mother's offices. It was out of Sesshoumaru's way to come here, but he came anyways. In a room full of professionals on their very brief, sporadic breaks, most people weren't interested in overhearing two men sitting at the table by the window.

Sesshoumaru didn't answer Byakuya's admission, but he heard it, snatched the phrase out of the noisy, cluttered air and stuffed it inside his memory. He tossed it liberally onto the clouded spot in his brain where Kagura's name kept humming all day long. Everything else was precise and clear, so long as it had nothing to do with that woman. Her brother lifted his coffee up and took a quick sip from the waxy rim, his indigo eyes lost out beyond the glass.

"Our father was abusive, _extremely_ abusive. The only things I remember about him are the shouting and the laughter." Sesshoumaru listened, not interrupting as he drank some of his own coffee, letting the terrible, bitter taste of burnt cafeteria sludge pollute his mouth. So Kagura was raised by a single mother... "She took me away." Byakuya pulled his bottom lip into his mouth just far enough to bite it, staring at the table between them. The lip-biting was a tell he shared with his sister. Then he shook his head. "Mother took me away and left my six year old sister with that monster."

..._What?_

"Why?" Why go through the ordeal of running away, of taking a child with her to safety and hopefully a better life, only to abandon the other? Sesshoumaru's mother had only ever _had_ him to consider, he was her only child, none of her relationships (the very, very few he could think of) had ever resulted in more siblings for him. Even as he sat there, with all the resentment and the anger and the frustration for the woman he knew was strutting around five stories over his head, Sesshoumaru couldn't conceive of a woman as selfish as his mother abandoning one of her children. She was far from a kind and tender person, but anything she saw as hers she would covet.

"I was sick." Byakuya's voice dropped down several octaves, his eyes still fixed on the table, fingers lightly gripping the paper cup in front of him. "My mother... I loved her and I owe her my life but..." He shook his head slowly, teeth grinding over one another before he got the rest of the words out. "She was a cruel woman sometimes. Instead of just coming out and saying she couldn't handle both of us, she'd turn it into an attack on Naraku. She always said that taking both of us would have let our father off the hook, left him without responsibilities or punishment. I don't think she really meant it, but she still used to say it..."

He found himself agreeing, she couldn't have really meant it. It surprised Sesshoumaru to learn that he even had that sort of faith in people, but what was being described seemed too disgraceful to exist. Even with all the issues with his own family, Sesshoumaru couldn't imagine his mother behaving like that. The money between them was an issue of power; Kimi wanted him to go one way, and Sesshoumaru simply refused.

So he listened, and he watched Byakuya raise his cup and take a large gulp of the bitter drink. The lawyer's face twitched to indicate either a pungent taste or a stinging burn. Probably both, but he kept drinking.

"You're _sure_ she was living with an infant?" Sesshoumaru fought the urge to huff at the man across from him. Byakuya had asked him this question several times before. He made a habit of asking at least twice when they met face-to-face, and once every time Sesshoumaru answered his phone. His answer had not changed.

"At that time of night," morning, "-it was hers."

"Why were you even...?" Sesshoumaru drank his coffee and shut down the conversation with a look. Two could play at this game. Byakuya either didn't want to figure out the answer or he was too overwhelmed with work and his sister to bother picking at Sesshoumaru's involvement. That suited him just fine. But he still wanted answers.

And the young lawyer looked like he wanted to sleep. Byakuya's indigo gaze was hazy as he leaned forward on his elbows, face in his hands for a few moments as he shook his head. Working for Sesshoumaru's mother wasn't a light task, and as someone fresh to the bar the man across from him would be working like an animal for the foreseeable future.

"He's in prison, you know." Sesshoumaru didn't know why Kagura's brother felt compelled to tell him anything, but it suited his interests and he listened closely to what was grumbled. Bya didn't seem to know why he was speaking either, just dropped his hands and slouched back in his chair, staring at him for a few moments like he was waiting for an answer. Sesshoumaru made himself ask.

"For what?"

"Murder." That... he sipped his coffee again slowly, hating the chalky film clinging to his lips, but he needed a reason not to look at the man. His ex had grown up abandoned by her mother and left with an abusive father who became a murderer. "He killed his second wife about this time last year. And it..."

The lawyer looked dead tired, and Sesshoumaru recalled now that the man had told him he'd been overseas for his education. America or Europe, he couldn't remember right now, but clearly his mother had run a long ways to escape her ex-husband. Between moving back to Tokyo, looking for his sister, and working for Sesshoumaru's mother, Byakuya probably didn't know more than a handful of people in the city. It made sense why he was confiding now, even if he might regret it later.

"It's just so _stupid_ for her to have a child... I mean she's already taking care of three kids, throwing in one of her own just-" What? Wait, what was that? "Huh?"

"Three kids?" Byakuya was looking at him as he asked the question, sleepy and confused. The man obviously had no idea how much Sesshoumaru did and did not know, so he didn't envy the brother's position in the slightest. Sesshoumaru knew Kagura's personality, but nothing about her life.

"Our step-siblings." That was not something... "It's complicated, and I gotta get back now anyways." A mutual time-check and yes, Byakuya's brief break from work was certainly over. Sesshoumaru had errands to run, appointments to make, a business to carry...

But about twenty minutes after Byakuya had booked it back upstairs to his mother's office, Sesshoumaru was still sitting in the cafe, cycling through the contacts on his cell phone. He ignored two phone calls as he sat there, hitting the ignore button and going back to his endless sifting. Every ten seconds or so Kagura's name would appear in the rotation, and he'd select it, and he'd look down at the screen that showed her number and asked him if this was the person he wanted to call. Would he like to text-message instead?

His thumb would move over the green call button, maybe he'd even touch it, but before the plastic could click he'd shift over to the red cancel icon. He'd end up back in his contacts list, and he'd cycle through once again.

Rinse and repeat.

* * *

><p>So Sesshoumaru waited. He waited and he watched his phone, not sure why the need didn't fade, why the hope persisted. Sesshoumaru found himself driving once or twice on the same route that would take him past her apartment- even if he wasn't actually going there and he only noticed it by chance. It was an itch under his skin and a sickness in his mind that Tokijin was so close to where she lived, and that he had to be there for so many hours of the day.<p>

Sesshoumaru couldn't afford to barricade himself in his office all day and night with the club teetering constantly on the edge of chaos. He always had to go out, always had to check on things. They hadn't been able to afford a proper system for checking ID cards, and Tokijin's existing scanner was old and often fooled by clever fakes and knock-offs. Sometimes Sesshoumaru doubted his doormen were even checking the cards to begin with.

Every night he came down and threw out at least four drunk teens, and they were always drunk by the time he got there, never tipsy or shy or being quite as obvious as he would have liked. Every month now he met at least once with the police in his office, ready to discuss such-and-such charges and this-and-that offences committed either on or near Sesshoumaru's property. Solicitation, trafficking, petty theft, domestic abuse in one of the adjacent buildings, a shooting two blocks away, a stabbing last month, assaults near the parking lot, mischief and disturbing the peace, public intoxication. This lot was cursed.

He came in to the office early one week near the end of November, and when he answered the phone on his desk Sesshoumaru heard his first piece of good news all month. It was Toran's voice, his realtor.

"_I have __**excellent**__ news._" Two offers on the condo. Sesshoumaru could forgive all Toran's catty flirts and smug attitude when he heard those words, trying desperately hard to keep the relief from escaping through his voice.

"What are they?"

"_That's the best part, one's a solid offer, but the other is **incredible.**_" Incredible how? "_Sesshoumaru he's gone **above** the asking price."_ ...What? _"I know! You must have friends in some incredible places, I had to call his agent and ask if it was a mistake on the fax._" Wait.

"Friends? Should I know this person?" Sesshoumaru's office at the Tokijin wasn't as comfortable as the one he'd left behind at Tetseiga. The walls still wore the old grey-green paint from before the downstairs renovation, and exposed holes were partially hidden behind filing cabinets and furniture. There was a red glowing digital clock on the wall directly above the door across the room from his desk, and one large window on the side of the room looked down onto the dance floor and bar area.

Tokijin was a much smaller property than Tetseiga, and the only arguable second story was this office suspended above the kitchen. There was a door behind his desk that led out onto a small stretch of roof and a fire escape, then the one in front of his seat that led to a metal cat walk. One of those police visits had been in response to some hysterical idiot climbing the outside of the walk-way without any of Sesshoumaru's bouncers seeing him until he fell from about twelve feet in the air. Thankfully, the idiot had been under illegal influences, so even if he'd possessed the resources to try taking him to court on some foolish allegations, Sesshoumaru's mother would have turned the opposing side inside out.

He hated the fact that she was still his lawyer, but his mother probably would have gone out of her way to discredit and destroy the career of any attorney he tried finding to replace her. His mother was ruthlessly possessive of what was hers. He was also sure now to always triple-check her fees.

"_Uh, well I can send the information to you if you'd like._"

"Do it." Approximately two minutes later, the e-mail appeared on his desktop, and Sesshoumaru kept Toran on the line as he looked over the file. His condo was in an excellent location and the market trends were in his favour, having an offer as high as this was a pleasant surprise, but not ground-breaking. Sesshoumaru had already begun filtering numbers through his mind and slotting different amounts into their proper places... when he saw the _name_. "Send me the other offer."

"_...You're not serious._"

"I am. Work over the second buyer, I want to close by the weekend."

"_Sesshoumaru!_" Her voice was more a whine than a scold: Toran couldn't argue with him, he was the owner, the seller, the employer. He had power over her, just enough control that by the time he hung up his realtor was sulking at her desk and doing what he'd said. Sesshoumaru tried getting back to work but it was a lost cause right now, he couldn't focus after reading what he had, not knowing what he did.

He printed the file Toran had e-mailed to him, reading the page a few times as he gathered his jacket and keys. Sesshoumaru checked the wall clock and confirmed that yes, he had the time to swing by the Tetseiga.

It occurred to him that Kagura would be there.

It was just more motivation to go.

* * *

><p><strong>This story has some pacing issues, I am aware of this but I'm quite sure how to fix it yet. It's part of why I missed the Monday update, but I'd rather get things right and keep 'em on track than just blindly follow a schedule.<strong>

**Read and review? Maybe? Next chapter's fun, I promise!**


	23. Is This About the Money?

**I need a Doctor, One Step Closer (remix).**

**I got really, really, REALLY confused yesterday, and was convinced it was Saturday the entire time. Apparently Thursday just didn't happen for me.**

**So this chapter's a day late! Whee~!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Taking Care <strong>_

Is This About the Money?

"This is _harassment!_" Inuyasha was absolutely _nothing_ like his brother. Kagura had decided this a while ago, a good four months back actually, when she'd started getting to know that stoic ice-block that insulted and intrigued her. Sesshoumaru wasn't nosey and pushy, he didn't keep asking the same question over and over again expecting a different reaction from her- Sesshoumaru wasn't _insane!_ He'd never condescendingly asked, again and again, whether Kagura needed money, or if she wanted to take kitchen scraps home with her- what a condescending ass-hole she worked for!

"Look, I'm just trying to-"

"_And I have told you to__** stop!**__"_ He'd called her in here _again_, to his stupid office with its stupid desk that he never sat behind but he kept in here anyways. Kagura knew better than to sit on his couch or feel nervous whenever he wanted to speak with her, because as soon as he shut the door she knew _exactly_ what he'd want to talk about. It didn't happen very often, and sometimes he _did _want to talk about something related to the actual club or dancing or whatever, but usually, like right now, Kagura wished she had the option to quit her dream job.

And they weren't alone this time either, Inuyasha was there, standing with his hands clenched and arms and back stiff, shoulders hunched like he was gonna tackle her if the argument kept going. But Kagome was there too, standing off just behind her fiance with a soft and openly concerned look on her face. It was a bitter-sweet thing to see her there since at least it would curb the rumours, but so far she'd done nothing but help the argument between Kagura and her boss get even _louder_ than normal.

Kagura'd be _amazed_ if half the people in today weren't crowded outside his window and door trying to hear what was going on. Her friends had finally gotten over the fact that Kagura had been in a relationship that they hadn't known about, and that it had ended without her telling them, and that they still didn't know _who_ the guy had been. So every time Inuyasha called her in here for private _chats_ like this one, the rumour-mill started spinning and Kagura had to kick and shout and scream to avoid being painted with that brush. Kagome being here was good for that reason alone, because if the shouting was between Kagura and Inuyasha, and the boss's fiancee remained quiet and calm, then he clearly couldn't be a cheating bastard.

Besides, Kagura had enough to deal with without mixing work with her personal life. She'd already come dangerously close to it, and the worst part was that even if Sesshoumaru and Inuyasha were nothing alike, it didn't keep the older brother from being a gutless hack that Kagura couldn't get out of her head. It was another reason she hated having talks with her boss, they looked _just_ enough alike that she couldn't always handle it.

"Kagura-" But then he'd open his _mouth_ and-!

"No! I am not coming to the party here tomorrow! Happy Birthday, but I have plans already!" No, really, she had plans! Thursday, December 8th was an important day for her and she was already going out! He knew this- she'd booked it off with her vacation time weeks ago! Kagura was going out with Hakudoshi and Kanna and the infant, and they were going to avoid any possible contact with her brother who for no god-damned reason had decided to show up in her life. Kagura was going to spend the day with her family, not her work friends, and she wasn't going to spend it being mad about Byakuya, or lamenting her long-dead relationship with her boss's brother.

So what if she never got to fucking explain? So what if he'd been perfect up to the last three minutes of their relationship? So-fucking-what? Kagura was over him. Completely and utterly over the fact that the only adult relationship she'd ever had was over on account of her baby brother. She was cool with it. Like a bottle of nitro, Kagura was completely stable and at ease.

"Please, Kagura?" Kagome spoke up in that sweet and kind voice she used on the children at her daycare. "Just think of it like a Christmas bonus." Bullshit! And Kagura knew they weren't talking about the party anymore!

There was a small brown envelope in Kagome's hand, the paper folded over and crinkled around a stack that Kagura didn't want to see, didn't want to touch, and absolutely refused to accept.

"I don't need your help!" She shouted, stomping her foot with both hands clenched like her boss's, except Kagura was pretty sure she could take the silver-haired man down if she had to. And she _wanted_ to, it was just the prospect of getting fired that made her stand back. "In case you two hadn't noticed, I have a _job!_ I get along just fine, so I don't need your damn charity!" Kagome quickly crossed the room, still holding that damn envelope with such a carefree look on her face, sympathy clear in her blue eyes.

"Then we'll just call it a-" Stupid girl! Kagura wasn't going to listen to this!

"Then where's Yura's bonus?" She challenged, and the daycare worker stopped and put on a sheepish face. Kagura just wanted to slap the both of them, naive well-meaning fools! "Why give them out alone? What kinda of stunt is this to pull? Damn, you two are such a perfect fucking match!"

Kagura snatched the envelope out of Kagome's hand, it was stuffed with money, she refused to think about how much, but it was heavy. Shifting her weight back on her heel, the dancer twisted and hucked the phony bonus right at the door. _That's_ what she thought of their chari-

-oh god.

"_Typical._" Kagura was sure she couldn't have timed her throw better even if she made Sesshoumaru shut the door and come in again. The paper bundle obviously wasn't heavy enough to have _hurt_ him, but the envelope bounced off her ex's face and struck the floor at his feet, its contents spilling out over the carpet. She watched him glanced down at the exposed bank notes before he stepped the rest of the way into Inuyasha's office and shut the door behind him. "I wonder if you'd be so liberal with money you actually earned, little brother."

"Sesshoumaru?" Good, Inuyasha said it before Kagura could let the name slip over her tongue. She knew she was staring and levelled her gaze down into a more aggressive slant. Why was he here? He looked tired, but more importantly he looked pissed- more so than a flying envelope should have caused unless he was just in that shitty a mood.

He ignored both her dirty look and Inuyasha's surprise, his foot scuffing the spilled cash with disdain as his good hand rested inside his coat pocket. His jacket was wrinkled? Then yeah, he was tired. It was barely past four in the afternoon but his entire black suit was wrinkled at the knees and along the small of his back. At least his tie was on straight but the collar of his white shirt still looked wilted and slept-on. The only time she could think of seeing him so ill-kept was the night after they- well, damn. Kagura didn't want to think about that. But his green-yellow eyes were sunken, dark circles that she'd never seen on his face making him look exhausted- but it was subtle too, something most people might not notice against his pale skin unless they _knew_ Sesshoumaru wasn't supposed to look like that.

Then he looked at her, and Kagura couldn't remember how clean her shirt was for practice today. She didn't know whether she'd worn her nice shorts or the ugly black-and-red basket-ball ones- she had pants to change into in her bag, but that just meant that Kagura obviously wasn't wearing them right now. The bag was sitting at her feet. She'd been sweating after practice, and knew her hair was half-out of its tight up-do because she could feel rebellious locks brushing her exposed nape.

At least neither of them looked put-together enough to lord it over the other.

"Oh! Did you get the offer, Sesshoumaru?" Kagome piped up, looking like her smile was forced, her laugh a little nervous as Kagura took the woman's comment as an excuse to get her eyes off her ex. He hadn't looked at her for nearly as long, but she almost thought she saw his gaze shoot back to her before Kagura completed the turn- just her imagination. Not enough sleep, the infant had an ear-infection.

"Look," Inuyasha seemed to sense something Kagura wasn't aware of, looking between his brother and fiancee nervously. "I know you're pissed, but before you say anything-"

"Before I say anything, little brother, the women should leave." Kagura didn't know if that was an ounce of chivalry coming through Sesshoumaru as he interrupted her boss, but it sounded more like a threat as Kagome swallowed and gave another nervous laugh.

"Well, I was the one who-" Kagura was distinctly aware of him stepping further into the room as Kagome tried to speak. It meant he was standing much closer to her with his hand in his jacket pocket, stoney expression fixed on his half-sibling and Inuyasha's fiancee. Kagura caught a whiff of his aftershave and fought not to bite her bottom lip as he spoke.

"_Out._" Out actually sounded like a good idea. Kagura didn't say anything else, just grabbed her bag and turned- making sure she _didn't_ end up facing him,and made her way to the door.

"Yeah, I guess Kagura and I can finish up outside." -wait. Her hand froze on the doorknob, and Kagura's temper remembered itself as she spun around again, arms folded after she slung the pack up over her shoulder.

"No, we're _done._" She announced stubbornly, not ignorant of the yen bills scattered over the office floor. She turned her red eyes on her boss where he was standing in front of his brother. Inuyasha met her gaze and Kagura let herself give an ultimatum. "Unless you're going to _fire_ me over this, Inuyasha, I don't want to hear about it again." So help her there were laws about this sort of thing, if Kagura had to start visiting court-houses and legal offices again trying to get free advice then she'd do it. Single-mother protection or something, the kinds of laws that kept people from creeping around young children or from completely wigging out around their caregivers.

She opened the office door, but not before she thought- _thought-_ she saw Sesshoumaru turn his head and look at her, but it was more that his hair moved down his back than anything, because the next instant she was outside and Kagome was with her. The two of them behind the glass bar before she heard the door click shut, Kagura seriously hoping that being ejected from her fiance's office would do the trick and get the woman to drop the issue.

"Kagura." No luck.

"Drop it!" Snarling the words, Kagura started walking, surprised to see that there wasn't a great big crowd around the office, but everyone was still present around the dance floor. Sesshoumaru had probably forced them to scatter when he appeared. Mukotsu and Renkotsu were discussing something quietly over by the stage, Abi and Yura standing in the middle of the dance floor, giggling down at where Jakotsu was physically doubled-over on the floor. His brother Bankotsu was sitting on the acid-stained concrete next to him, looking casual and chatting with the girls- probably hitting on Abi again.

Kagura decided to head over to her friends, Mukotsu and the pyro were fine, but the chef had a habit of getting creepy if you spoke to him for too long. Kagome lagged behind her, but that was probably because a deep voice had just boomed from the office behind them.

Yes, her ex was definitely pissed about something. Good. He could shout louder than Kagura could, and Inuyasha deserved it just for bugging her so much. She didn't even care about what it was over either.

"What's up with him?" She asked, crossing through a patch of dreary, rainy winter light and looking down at where Jakotsu had properly assumed the fetal position and was laying dejectedly on his side. There was a dark blue cloud of doom hovering over the bar-tender, pieces of his soul drifting out through his nose and lips. Thankfully, his dire situation took the emphasis off Kagura's screaming match with their boss.

"Jak pissed off the Elder Taishou _real_ bad." Yura giggled, making her hip-swinging way over to Kagura and draping her arms around her shoulders and neck. She was much too close with her boosted bosom and short red skirt, but Kagura and Abi had both assured the catty woman several times that they were undeniably straight, it was still just Yura.

"What, so he actually laid him out?" Sesshoumaru getting mad and scowling was one thing, having him shout and boom at his brother was something else, but having him get physical with _Jakotsu_ was incomprehensible to her. That man was _not_ the kind to get violent.

"Naw! Nothing like that." Besides, as Bankotsu pipped up from the floor the DJ didn't look at all concerned about his brother's death-rattled breathing. If someone actually _had_ touched his younger brother, Ban probably would have put them in hospital- he'd hoist the entire banryu work-station if it meant getting even. He sort of reminded her of Hakudoshi that way, and what would happen if anyone ever tried laying hand on Kanna.

"A look, he got all of it through in just _one look._" Abi explained, grinning and coiling a few strands of strawberry-red hair around her long finger. "He just used that _deep_, sexy voice of his and said "_Jakotsu._", and then _wham!_ He seized up and hit the floor!" Sounded like a curse, but the red-head just knelt down next to their choreographer and stroked his black head slowly. "Poor baby."

"What the hell did you do?" Walking with her hands in her pockets, Kagura flatly ignored the fact that Yura was playing with her hair, cooing over the length and tying a few tiny braids. It used to really creep her out that the other woman didn't understand personal space, but Kagura wasn't much in the mood right now to fight her off. She nudged Jak's shoulder with her toe, a similar invasion of privacy. "Did you try and feel him up or something?"

"_Noo..."_ Well, it _sounded_ like no, but it could have just as easily been row or go or so. Kagura kept nudging him, watching the man's rigid body refuse to do more than just rock back and forth. Drama queen.

"Is it the condo?" Huh? Kagura wasn't the only one to glance around at Kagome as the girl posed the shy question. And more importantly, Jakotsu bolted upright.

"You weren't supposed to put in an offer!" The man wailed, Bankotsu's eyebrows creeping up as Kagura took a step back so she could see Kagome and Jakotsu at the same time. What was all this?

"Inuyasha and I've been looking for a new place anyways, so if Sesshoumaru needed the money-" Hey, slow down!

So the story went like this: Jak and Ban had gone by Sesshoumaru's condo a few weeks ago to surprise him on his birthday (Kagura hadn't known his birthday was in November, or that he was now twenty-six) but had found an open-house sign on his floor and his condo door open for realtors and perspective buyers to walk in. Apparently the two had been there before, Kagura not adding to the conversation in any way as they described how all of his electronics and the sound system had been removed already, no TV, speakers or any players of any sort. The art on his walls had been gone too, and since he hadn't been in to chase them off right away, they found his home gym dismantled (apparently that's what he'd kept up that second floor).

Kagura wanted, but knew better than, to ask if there had been any electricity running through the flat. She also doubted Sesshoumaru had gotten his money's worth back on any of the sold belongings. She bit her tongue when the brothers considered how much he must have been spending in storage to keep everything.

The problem for Jakotsu was that he'd blabbed this to Inuyasha no less than a week ago. So Inuyasha had told Kagome, so Kagome had strong-armed him into putting in a generous offer on the flat. Tetseiga's success was no secret, nor were Inuyasha's swiftly deepening pockets (something Kagura would love to forget about), so the stupid woman next to her just harped merrily about trying to give Sesshoumaru some extra cash to _'help out'_.

"What makes you think he needs help?" Well, basic math for one but Kagura finally put her foot down and challenged the idiot girl's logic. Sure, it made sense that Sesshoumaru would have to downsize after losing Tetseiga and then spending two months in hospital after that freak accident, but that didn't mean he needed help. "Has he _said_ he's strapped for cash?" Kagome gave her a sickeningly innocent look.

"I don't think he'd ever come out and _say_ it."

"So you'll just stand there and _assume_ he does?" There was venom on her words but she couldn't swallow it, that oily film of spite coating the inside of her mouth. "What, do you think someone as proud as Sesshoumaru would will himself into a cardboard box on the street? If he needed help then why would he come here and tear a strip off Inuyasha for offering? Anyone with his ego would have just taken the money quietly and pretended it never happened. Anyone who _needed_ cash that badly would have come to you _first_ and never let a bunch of strangers walk through his house to appraise it!" Woah, back off, back off. Distance. But-

Fuck Sesshoumaru for being the one to explain real-estate to her in the first place, but she'd still picked up enough from him that Kagura knew she wasn't getting her wires crossed now. Realtors made a sale as public as possible to attract attention and get it off the market as soon as they could, and Sesshoumaru was too private and toxic to let people go traipsing through his personal space on a whim. Downsizing wasn't the same as going bankrupt. And if he was bankrupt then the fucker would just have to struggle and drown until he got over himself and _asked_ for help.

"Well I'm sorry, Kagura, but I don't think that family should let family suffer." Kagome was getting defensive now, the blue-eyed girl folding her arms over her petite chest as Kagura felt the others watching them closely, like a pair of hissing alley cats. Why was she defending her ex? Well maybe his situation with the Tetseiga's owners was becoming a bit too close to the heckling Kagura kept getting from the pair. Otherwise, she was just doing it because she could.

"What part of _'fucked from beyond the grave'_ makes you think he'd take help from his family?" Being manipulated by your dad into taking care of his second family was one thing, but then being forced to turn over the means you used was just really fucking low.

"Inuyasha had nothing to do with that!"

"Well karma's a bitch, Kagome!" Who'd Sesshoumaru been arguing with when his car went wild in traffic and almost killed him? Who'd gone and hucked a rock at his car right before the truck appeared? He'd only discussed the crash with her all of fucking once but it was just one of those things you held onto, even after the relationship was over. "Do you have _any_ idea what it's like to want?"

It was the wrong thing to say, but Kagura threw the comment down anyways, letting it land like a glove on the floor between them. Kagome's spine went stiff and a fire was blazing behind her, arms dropped and hands clenched now with sheer determination.

Bring it, bitch.

"No, because I've always had my friends and family around to help me!"

"Because you asked, or because you begged?"

"If I needed help then I asked for it, that's what having friends is all about- having them there for you when you need it!"

"So you've never begged, or starved, or worked your hands to the marrow and_ still_ not been able to make things work?" Kagura kept her voice from shaking, arms crossed now that Kagome had abandoned the pose and she couldn't be seen as copy-catting. It was juvenile to think like that, but they had a fucking audience and it was quarter to five. Kagura didn't want any more shit to crop up and make this go one forever, tapping one foot impatiently inside her black flats, waiting for the other woman to scrounge up her answer. Kagome couldn't read her, that's why it took her several moments and a steeling breath to make the words come.

"No, Kagura. I haven't." Good!

"_Well neither have I!_" So take that, you naive tart! Kagome's whole body gave a start as Kagura shouted the words at her. "When I have needed help, I've _asked_ for it. I've never had to beg, and I've never taken advantage of a single person to get where I am. But if I _had _to beg, then I'd beg, and I'd take the money you and Inuyasha keep trying to shove down my throat, and I'd work this job and another to make it work. And if the ends still wouldn't meet, _then_ I'd start bleeding my friends for cash and food and clothes- _not before!_"

That was how people were! Did she not get it yet? Kagura was supposed to believe that these people had known Sesshoumaru for _years_, and yet none of them seemed to understand that he wouldn't just take scraps out of their hands. If he needed help then he'd ask, and if he didn't want it then he'd rather drown than be rescued. What was the point of saving someone if it'd just mean breaking them in the process? Why harangue someone who didn't want to talk, especially if you didn't even know what was wrong? For all they knew, Sesshoumaru was in the same situation Kagura was: _fine._

"Yeah but you have a _baby!_ You have a reason to be humble!" A reason to- _what?_ Be _humble?_ What the fuck was that supposed to mean?

"Are you saying I should be _ashamed?_" That's right, Kagome, back-pedal. Bite your lip and wince a little 'cause it hurts, twiddle your fingers and dance around on the spot trying to figure out what you said and what it meant. "Where the hell do you get off making assumptions about people you don't even _know?_ You don't know me, you don't know my family, and you don't fucking _listen_ when I tell you anything. Where the _fuck_ do you get off telling me to be ashamed! ?"

Kagura wasn't a single mother, but you know what? Forget the definition. It was her life, it was her choice, she was free and Kagome had no right- no _fucking __**right**_ to judge her for it. The baby wasn't hers but even if he was that wouldn't give the uppity rich-girl in front of her the right to make comments and tell her to keep her head down and her voice shy. She should be humble because she put food on the table? She should feel sorry for herself because she paid rent? She should moan about life because she wasn't from some happy family getting ready to jump into a happy marriage?

"I have a baby-" She shouted, someone's hand on her arm that she shook off violently. "-that I send to daycare three times a week! I have a baby that I feed and bathe and buy toys for, who goes to bed every night with a fully belly and clean sheets! I have a baby, and his older sister, and _their_ older brother all waiting for me at home because _our father_ isn't worth the breath to curse him with!"

Dumbfounded and silent, the lot of them. Jakotsu was standing and had been about to say something when Kagura let loose on Kagome, Bankotsu still sitting on the floor with the tip of his tongue caught between his teeth. Yura and Abi had nothing to say behind her, and if Kagura tried she could see Mukotsu and Renkotsu had been watching the argument, but now had nothing worthwhile to do with the situation.

Sesshoumaru touched her shoulder again and Kagura wasn't having any of it, almost hitting him with her backpack before she stormed off across the dance floor, headed for the way out. It was five, she was an hour late, and Kagura could see the rain outside but didn't care that she hadn't changed into her street clothes yet. She'd throw her pants and sweater on over her dance gear on the bus, she had her umbrella so she wouldn't get wet, she had her hand on the door before anybody thought to speak, and when they did it wasn't directed at her. Sounded like Yura.

Sounded like _angry_ Yura cussing out someone who wasn't Kagura. Good. Because _that's_ what friends were fucking for.

* * *

><p>"<em>That's<em> what you've been bothering her about! Oh my god!"

"_Their_ dad? Doesn't that make them siblings or something?"

"It's obvious she's got a kid at home! Why would you guys make such a big deal out of it?"

"Hey! I've got a sick mom, where's my extra money, boss?"

Between an angry Yura, insulted Abi, and a genuinely hurt Jakotsu, Sesshoumaru saw no reason to stand there and proceed to give Inuyasha another serious thrashing. The two of them had broken off fighting each other when the shrieking outside actually eclipsed their argument in volume, the brothers emerging to catch the tail-end of Kagura and Kagome's fight. From what he'd heard through the glass, it sounded eerily like the two shouting matches had covered the same basic ground.

The chef and the pyrotechnic were wisely staying out of the argument, as was the DJ, but Bankotsu was standing close by his brother as Jakotsu and the two women reamed out the humiliated owners of the Tetseiga.

Sesshoumaru followed Kagura. She was simply more important.

"Kagura."

"_Fuck off._" She was also clearly not happy to have him following her across the parking lot. The rain was cold as it struck his silver head, the jacket he was wearing already soaking up the water. But his car was parked nearby- no need for a longer coat or umbrella. Kagura was wearing a white tee-shirt, basket-ball shorts and her black flats with the red bows on them.

"Do you intend to walk home like that?"

"I _intend _to use my umbrella." Which she was not holding. There was a harsh wind coming off the ocean and blowing past the black face of the Tetseiga, Sesshoumaru continuing to follow her across the cracked asphalt. He even followed when she cut across a small patch of gravel and dry grass to reach the road instead of following the pavement all the way around. Between the wind and the rain, everything was grey, even Tokyo's skyline was hard to make out through the bad weather and dimming light.

It was winter. Better rain than snow.

"Let me drive you home."

"_No._" Stubborn woman. Sesshoumaru stopped walking, tongue caught sharply between his teeth before he turned around and walked back the way he'd come. He unlocked his car with the remote in his pocket and withdrew his cell quickly, pulling the sedan door open and climbing inside before he was soaked, phone still in hand.

Menu, contacts, sort- K., select, confirm. He called her.

More importantly, she answered.

"_What the hell are you trying to prove?"_

"That it is raining and driving is faster than taking the bus." She swore and hung up on him, Sesshoumaru starting the car and pulling out of Tetseiga's parking lot. He refused to think about what had happened the last time he drove down this same road, heading in the same direction, but at least he caught up with Kagura after only a few seconds. She was just standing in the downpour, frustrated and tense, but Sesshoumaru couldn't lie and say he felt any more at ease as the sedan rolled to a stop next to her.

Kagura climbed in, but refused to say anything, dropping her backpack down by her feet as she shut the door. The only sound was the rain hitting the roof and sides of the car as he drove along the familiar web of roads, the windshield wipers humming as they skated back and forth outside the glass. Not a single word all the way back to her apartment, Kagura just had her arms folded and her shoulders turned so she was looking out her rain-speckled window the entire time.

Not a single, solitary word. No '_I've missed you_'s or '_why didn't you call?_'s, no easy conversation or spitfire arguing, not fake small-talk or awkward polity. Just silence with Kagura staring out her window and Sesshoumaru watching the slick black road ahead of them. Several times he thought to just pull over, and once he even leaned into it on the wheel- but then he just kept going, the car never betraying more than an idle tug towards the side of the road.

He couldn't remember her sister's name, could he ask and use that as a segue into a conversation? He had been speaking with her brother regularly for over a month, could he use Byakuya to break the silence? He was the one driving the car, couldn't Sesshoumaru just take a wrong turn on purpose and turn the drive into something longer? Stall for more time and make her speak first instead?

_'Say something._' Either of them, both of them. _'Say anything.' _About anything, about nothing, just something to break the silence. Speak, cough, sneeze, yawn, anything.

_'Do anything.'_ Turn the wheel, stop the car, don't pull into her building's parking lot- no. That was the one thing he _didn't_ want to do but Sesshoumaru performed the action anyways, the sedan sliding neatly into the exact same spot he always parked in, right in front of her building door. _'Do something now because tomorrow is-_'

Tomorrow was December the 8th. Tomorrow was the anniversary of everything Sesshoumaru hated: his brother's birthday that he didn't know how to cope with and wasn't sure what he was going to do about it. Tomorrow he'd be a year without everything, and he wouldn't even have-

"Thanks." There- she spoke. Kagura said something and Sesshoumaru finally unfroze. She already had the car door open and her backpack in one hand, but his fingers caught her other one before Kagura was the rest of the way out. He was leaning over harshly and the edge of his seatbelt was cutting into his throat, but he didn't care. Her hand was wet and cold in his, but he didn't care. He just held on, and Kagura didn't pull away- she could have, his grip wasn't very strong, but she didn't. She was stuck half-in, half-out of the car with her neck bent so she didn't knock her head on the roof, eyes down and bangs obscuring her face.

Now say something. Now do something. Tell her you're sorry even if you're not, or you just don't know. Tell her to stay and sit for just a few minutes. Ask her what she's doing on Monday, because Mondays used to be important and now they're just empty. Pull on her hand and bring her back in out of the rain, because if he pulls now then she'll come, there's tension in her arm but his hold is still so loose she could break free without even trying. Pull her back in and don't say anything. Just kiss her even if it's awkward and she's wet and cold and he's tired and alone. Just say anything, just do _something._..

_'I need us to try again.'_

But thinking and wanting weren't the same as acting and saying. Thinking something was really nothing, and doing nothing was as good as letting go.

So Kagura pulled her hand out of his, and she was gone.

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><p><strong>Only not 'cause, y'know, I've got a bunch of chapters left to post.<strong>

**Read and review!**


	24. December 7th and 8th

**My December (Remix). **

**This story is so long, SO LONG, but this chapter here is a nice touch-stone: One year complete! **

**I can tell you now that the story won't go THIS slowly for seven years in-universe, that would be absolutely insane. Where I'm working now in the mid/late 30s I can see the end of the plot, but I'm not sure how many chapters it'll take to get there since I keep adding funny/adorable scenes that I love and which make the project worth writing.**

**This chapter is both out of place and not, I really like it but it's more sentimental and not very plot-driven, so bleh. We shall see what you think when you review.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

December 7th and 8th

One year ago, Kikyo died. She didn't want to, she fought to stay alive but... it wasn't enough. She chose the wrong time to fight and it wasn't a battle she could win.

She'd had chances, had times where she'd almost taken her family beyond the control and the pain of her husband, but those chances, when actually taken, had never stuck properly. She'd always come right to the precipice of escape and freedom, but when asked to jump into that great, big, terrifying abyss she'd always grown just a little too afraid.

Kikyo had made it to a shelter once, when her son was still very small and his sister just a baby. They'd stayed in the shelter for three days before the guilt of leaving her husband's side became strong enough to overwhelm her fear of going back. Naraku was crafty that way, when she left and came back he never punished her for trying to leave. Instead he would become that kind, sweet person she was always looking for, the one she was always trying to see and bring out to the surface.

She'd run away again after he killed their baby. But that was a mistake; Naraku hadn't killed the child, Kikyo had failed to be a mother to it. Her body hadn't protected it the way a mother's was supposed to. That was why she went back to him again when Haku was only a year into school and Kanna was just beginning to walk. He'd held her and dried her tears, made her feel loved and beautiful... And then a week later he'd screamed and struck her so hard she'd almost had to go back to the hospital.

Kikyo never tried to run away with Kagura, Naraku's daughter was not a child Kikyo could love. Her mother had done something Kikyo both resented and envied: run away from a man who couldn't remember himself when he drank or grew angry, fled a life she hadn't wanted. But Kaguya had also done something Kikyo could never, ever forgive. Kaguya had given Naraku two children: a little boy and his smaller sister. But when Kaguya left she only took her boy with her.

When Kikyo tried to escape again, she took Haku, Kanna, and the unborn child sleeping in her womb. Her children were hers, pieces of her soul and her heart, vessels filled with her blood. When they came back Kagura had been so mad to see them she'd slammed the door on Kikyo's arm and screamed at her. Naraku had beaten the sixteen-year-old so badly for it that Kikyo had, to her horror, almost found the violence endearing.

How could she wish something like that on another woman's child? When she saw her step-daughter, Kikyo should have imagined Kanna in her place, not wondered what sort of woman could produce such a bitter, angry child. She couldn't blame Naraku for it because she'd known, Kikyo had _convinced _herself that all he really wanted was to try and make his family work. He wanted them to be happy, he must have, he loved them...

She lost the second baby after burning dinner one night. She'd been so tired after caring for the children and arguing with Kagura that she'd fallen asleep in the living room. Her step-daughter had woken her up by shouting that there was a stink and smoke in the air. Kagura hadn't helped clean up the mess either, just boiled noodles for Hakudoshi and herself while making sure she didn't make enough for the whole family.

In the very bottom of her heart, buried in a soul that tried so hard to love, Kikyo always blamed Kagura for her baby's death. Maybe, if there had been food on the table when Naraku got home, maybe he wouldn't have hit her so many times for ruining their original meal. Maybe. Or maybe he would have just beaten her harder.

Her last baby, her fifth one, had convinced Kikyo that she had been right to hold on for so many years. She'd held his perfect form in her arms and had seen all the goodness his father struggled to hold onto, all the purity that she desired contained in one little body. Ten fingers, tiny toes, a sweet smell and soft, downy hair. She'd been old to have another child though, the pregnancy had taken her off her feet and Kikyo hadn't expected Kagura to do anything to help her. She hadn't thought Kaguya's daughter was capable of making dinner- even if it was the same thing over and over again, or that she could clean or tidy when Kikyo went down for a nap.

Kikyo never saw Kagura do any of this, but the chores, bit by bit, were performed and neither of her children ever seemed to know what she meant when she asked about it. After the baby was born Kikyo was allowed to rest and recover properly, she could just hold and rock her baby, sing to him and help Kanna with her crafts.

But if she wasn't doing the heavy lifting, and she wasn't cleaning, and she was using the car more than running around on her feet because she had the baby's stroller and bags to carry now... then Kikyo wasn't working hard. That was what Naraku accused her of. He said she wasn't working hard, that was why she was growing ugly and fat in his house, not doing her job. Kikyo hadn't known how much she had let Kagura take control until Naraku screamed at his adult daughter and called her a whore, chasing Kagura out of the house for a week while she stayed with one of her boyfriends.

Kikyo couldn't do the work alone, even after Kagura came back. And when Naraku confronted her that night, that late, cold December night one year ago in the kitchen, Kikyo told him as much.

She told him that if he didn't want Kagura living in the house then he should kick her out properly, not keep her tethered to their home by holding her documents and information. She told him to stop treating the girl like a slave who worked and brought home money for him to spend on alcohol. She told him to stop speaking like a brute and a villain in front of their son, to not throw things at Kanna when she tried to talk to him, to not scream at the baby when he wanted him to stop crying.

And then she begged him, _begged him_, to not cut her again after he got her the first time with the knife.

Kikyo died a year ago. She was attacked in her kitchen and chased into the living room where her son got between her and the knife. She screamed and clutched her bleeding shoulder as his blood mixed with hers on the carpet, and he was smashed against a wall by his stronger father, falling to the floor in a daze. She threw something- she doesn't even know what it could have been, and Naraku came at her again and he killed her. He cut something, she doesn't know what, but he cut it and it hurt, and she felt the warmth come pouring out of her body where she was left laying on the floor.

Her body was twisted at just the right angle, her eyes open wide and ears filled with the slowing hammer of her struggling heart. She saw her son snap out of his daze and see her, then she saw his father step between them. Kikyo couldn't see Hakudoshi's face, just his feet and bleeding arm as he struggled and kicked himself across the floor to get away. She heard his voice, not his words, and her baby sounded scared. Her first baby.

Her first baby had been begging on the floor, the baby she hadn't been strong enough to run away with, the baby that she'd been too forgiving to protect. Her first baby was begging the way her other children hadn't been able; their father had killed them without letting them breathe their first word, they hadn't even seen his face, they'd been nameless to him. Nothing to him.

And just like before, Kikyo had to watch the father of her children kill another of her babies.

Or at least she would have, if something hadn't flown through the air past Naraku and shattered against the wall.

A bottle, a vase, a picture-frame, Kikyo didn't know. And it didn't matter, because Kagura threw something else right after, and then another item. And she kept screaming and all Kikyo could see was her step-daughter's bare feet get between her husband and her son and drag the latter's stunned form back into the kitchen.

And then Naraku, bellowing, followed her.

And then Kikyo died.

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><p>But she still saw what happened that night. Kikyo can't explain it, and doesn't really want to try. She saw that knife with her blood wave in the air in front of her step-daughter, and she saw Kagura, the child she'd disliked and resented and pitied, stand there between Kikyo's husband and Kikyo's baby. Kagura had been holding something- a cutting board? A knife block? She'd been holding something like a shield to defend herself, too scared to throw it in case it made him lunge at her.<p>

Kikyo felt her front door burst open and strangers come tearing into her home, shouting and carrying guns. She felt the bullet fired from one pistol bite into the kitchen wall and cause Kagura's knees to go weak, the girl- woman? falling back and landing on Kikyo's baby in a heap. Hakudoshi had been crying with his head down, his arm weeping blood across the white floor.

The shot stopped Naraku from continuing forward the way he'd been going, it jarred him and the officers sensed it. He was on the ground in seconds, the bloodied knife removed from his grasp.

A few minutes later, someone came over and looked at Kikyo's body. He'd arrived late, not with the men and the dogs and the guns. He'd been very young. Too young to see dead mothers fail to protect their babies. Black hair, a little long, and caring blue eyes that had been too grim when they looked down at her. He hadn't been wearing a uniform, but he had a gun and a badge at his belt, and two younger men following him that he asked questions. People seemed to defer to him, he was the one who found Kanna and her baby brother hiding in the closet of their room.

Kikyo didn't see her children again until her funeral, which wasn't really a funeral: it was just her babies and their step-sister standing in a quiet room, a picture of her sitting on a table with a white cloth spread over the plastic surface. Kanna was wearing Kikyo's hair pins. Hakudoshi was still alive. Kagura was carrying the infant.

She'd never seen Kagura hold her baby before...

Kikyo hasn't seen her children in a year. She's been here, in the graveyard where her ashes were committed. Kikyo has no extended family, and she moved to Tokyo anyways when she was much younger. There is no ancestral grave for her to wander near, just Naraku's. Kikyo Onigumo's spirit haunts the Onigumo family grave.

People come to the graveyard, families usually, they come and sit down in front of the graves of their ancestors and they bring food. They share some with the grave and eat the rest themselves, they talk about whatever they want to and they sometimes sing, or play games. Kikyo has never seen someone like her, but she knows there are others in the graveyard. They never go anywhere, they just stay. They sit, or they stand on the steps, maybe if there are flowers they'll watch the colours slowly fade as the petals dry out and curl.

There are no flowers in December, it's too cold for them to bloom. Kikyo is just standing on the step in front of her grave and looking at the sky. She can't feel the air, but she knows it's cold. Her world is grey, but the sun is white until it hides behind the clouds and it begins to rain. She had thought that maybe it wouldn't rain again today like it did last night, but she was wrong.

In a graveyard, you always hear people before you see them. Sound carries, nature is quiet. But Kikyo doesn't hear this person until he's already well within sight of her through the heavy, cold, grey rain. He's alone, this is uncommon, but not strange.

Kikyo can remember which graves have been visited how many times near hers, she has very little to think about or do. Kikyo just doesn't think most of the time. Her thoughts increase the pain she longs to forgive.

But while she's thinking about this, the young man stops in front of her grave. She's surprised, and looks down from the weeping sky. He's holding an umbrella, but she knows he's wet anyways.

"Tomorrow is the 8th..." She doesn't know this person. He's young, but older than her son. Older than her step-daughter too. His clothing is nice but a little wrinkled; a business suit and tie. He should iron his shirt more often, and maybe eat a bit more, he looks thin. His eyes are unhappy as they look at her grave, reading the names and dates her identity shares a place alongside. His hair is longer than she would expect a business man's to be, but it's kept combed neatly and tied back behind his head. He looks so tired. "It will be a Thursday. I thought you'd want to know."

December 8th will be a Thursday, which means this is December 7th, a Wednesday. She didn't want to know that, but now that she has it Kikyo takes in the information. Maybe she can start to count now, and keep track of time and date. It might be something she can think about.

"...You don't know me." She looks at him again, watching the young man's sad eyes grow heavier, he can't even look at the grave anymore. "I... should not be here." He lowers the umbrella and she watches him set it on the ground in front of the grave. His hair is getting wet but he doesn't seem to notice, putting his hand in his pocket and pulling out something wrapped in plastic. Kikyo can't see what for a moment but then he steps up to the grave and places it down on the step just before the flat face of the tombstone rises up.

It's a business card, flat and white and that Kikyo can see perfectly once he moves his hand away and reclaims his umbrella. The card is inside a small resealable plastic bag, but she can't read it. Kikyo finds this strange because she could read before she died, but now the words mean nothing to her. It's like how she can't read the names on the grave, she knows them but she's never read them. She just knows whose grave she's sharing, she doesn't need to see or speak or be near them, wherever they are, she just knows.

The young man places two small coins on top of the bagged card, then he steps back away from the grave and looks down at the tombstone again. The coins are for good luck and fortune, and they're to keep the card from blowing away in the wind and rain. Kikyo feels compelled to try and touch them, but hesitates. She looks at him instead, because he doesn't look ready to leave yet.

He looks so sad. And he feels it too, she knows he does, because the man just crosses his ankles and then lowers himself down, sitting right on the soaking wet ground in his nice suit and wrinkled tie. He doesn't seem to mind as the water infiltrates his clothes, soiling his pants and the back of his coat where it touches the water.

"If you had left, would you have taken her with you?" Kikyo watches him. "You were made to go, you did not _leave_, so if you had chosen to run away, would you have brought her along?" Kikyo can't answer. "She wasn't your daughter." Kikyo _has_ no answer. "You weren't her mother."

The man stands up. She knows that, inside, he knows he shouldn't have come here. He murmurs something even she can't here through the rain, and then starts to walk away again, vainly wiping off his pants while awkwardly balancing the umbrella before stopping. He glances back over his shoulder at her. He can't see Kikyo, he just sees the grave.

"Don't lose that card."

She won't.

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><p>It stops raining that night, she had thought it might and, in a way, Kikyo is pleased. The card is still sitting in front of her grave, and the coins are still holding it down in case the wind should blow. The sun rises over the city and she sees its white rays cut through the grey film of her quiet world. It rises and rises, and the wind still blows from time to time, but the coins are on the card and the card won't blow away.<p>

The coins are also in her grasp. Kikyo doesn't understand how. But after the man had gone and the card was left there, she touched the coins. They moved but they didn't move, she felt them but she couldn't. Kikyo pulled the two coins up off the ground and held them, understanding that the card was for someone else, but the coins were for her. They represented good fortune and good luck, the promise of wealth and the belief in other things. And they were paper-weights. And now Kikyo can hold them.

She hears the voices long before she sees them, standing in front of her grave watching the sun where it is already high over-head. Kikyo feels something that's almost like happiness, but it's really not. She knows a family has come to see a grave, to laugh and talk and share food together with their ancestors. Kikyo is happy for the grave that gets to see its family.

Then she sees them, and Kikyo doesn't understand joy well enough anymore to recognize the deep sensation that wells up, the burning and the soreness, and the hush that comes over her melancholy. The grey film ripples as three young people and a stroller come into view, their voices are loud- the loudest is the woman walking in the middle, pushing the wheeled device.

"It's a graveyard, don't you have to be quiet?" At fifteen any boy would be bored with spending the day at a grave, and fifteen is how old the young man is who is walking beside the stroller, a large, heavy bag slung over his shoulder- the picnic supplies. His white hair is strongly tinged with indigo now that he's getting older, hanging loose around his face and shoulders, but a little too long for her taste, he would look better with it shorter. His violet eyes look bored, but are roaming curiously over the graves, looking for the one he remembers.

"Who's here to get mad? These guys could use a little excitement. _Yo!_ _Kikyo!_"

Kikyo can't answer. Even if she had a voice or words, she wouldn't be able to answer Kaguya's daughter. Kikyo's baby gives a shrill laugh in his stroller as the woman pushing him suddenly breaks into a run, Kikyo's daughter giving a start before she and her brother pick up their pace and try to catch up.

Her children are visiting a grave, so they're all wearing black, but her children aren't dressed formally like they're going to a funeral. Kanna's short dark blue skirt has black leggings on underneath, all three of them are just wearing tee-shirts and Kagura and Hakudoshi are in jeans. Kikyo notices that all of her babies are wearing proper jackets, lined and zipped up and perfect for the chilly weather- but Kaguya's daughter is not dressed properly. She is wearing a jean jacket, and her hands are too white as she busies about unbuckling the infant from his stroller, tugging his tiny little gloves on over his delicate fingers.

Kagura is wearing a scarf under her jacket, and jeans and proper, sturdy shoes, but that jacket is too light for December. Hakudoshi and Kanna are already spreading a blanket on the damp ground, and Kikyo's daughter tosses a bunch of bright red building blocks over the cloth for the infant as he's released from the chair. Kikyo can see the vibrant hue of the toys, catch the subtle lavender of her baby's hair and her son's eyes. Kaguya's daughter rifles around in the heavy bag for a moment and then pulls out a plastic bundle. Inside the plastic are two damp rags, and she hands one to Kanna before the both of them step up to the grave.

"Why is it so dirty?" Kanna asks the question as they begin to work. The tombstone is made of flat, polished black granite, Kagura reaching up over the top on her toes to wipe away the dirt and film that's collected over the surface all year long.

"Rain, dust, lots of reasons." Kanna cleans off Kikyo's name first, then works up the stone from there. Kikyo can feel sunlight and knows the air is cold, but the sun is warm. She listens to Kagura teach her daughter. "There, I think that looks better." Kaguya's daughter makes Kanna go sit down on the blanket with her brothers, while Kagura gets down on her knees and wipes off the step in front of the stone as well. Cleaning the step brings the card and the coins to her attention, Kagura's face is confused as she scoops them up into her hand and checks the gold lettering on the card through the plastic.

Kagura's face goes dark for a moment, but then her step-daughter just crumples the card in her hand and stuffs it into her pocket. She finishes wiping the step, and Kikyo's grave is now clean.

"Hey, do you two remember when I used to mess around with the VCR settings?" Kikyo remembers what Kagura brings up as she turns around on the step and looks at the others. Kikyo would pointedly remind her step-daughter that such pranks were not funny, but lacks the voice. But Kanna can't remember the pranks, and Hakudoshi explains it to her with a smug look on his face. Yes, those two would laugh about that.

"The baby always kicked her." Kanna dishes up a few portions of rice, one too many by Kikyo's eye since there are just the four of them, but then Hakudoshi tops the rice with some of the meat and over-cooked veggies from the big tupperware container that was sitting in the bag. "I remember how her skin would pull and move, and you could feel his hand." Yes, Kikyo can remember that too, all the quiet nights when Naraku wasn't home yet and the baby felt like moving around inside her. Kanna would come and press her hand over Kikyo's wide belly and feel the infant push back. Like a game.

"...You hate sesame seeds." Kagura points this out as Hakudoshi pulls a small plastic bag out of his pocket, a thimble-full of the aforementioned seeds settling in the corner.

"Mom liked them." Kikyo watches her son pour the seeds onto her portion, Kanna snapping the chopsticks before sticking them in the meal and placing the overflowing bowl down on the step in front of her grave. Kagura scoots over so Kikyo's bowl is still a part of the group, the infant crawling over to his step-sister, a red block in one hand and his tiny mouth open looking for the rice she gives him to gum on. Kikyo isn't sure her baby should be eating rice yet, but at least Kagura has some small pieces of baked tofu on hand, crackers and juice appearing at her request where Hakudoshi is still sitting near the bag.

The conversation meanders and flutters about between the children. Kikyo doesn't know who Rin is, but Hakudoshi doesn't want to talk about her and this just makes Kagura coo and tease him. Kikyo remembers Shiori, and she likes knowing that Kanna is still friends with the other white-haired girl.

"That guy who showed up on Monday-"

"Na! I don't wanna talk about him today." Kikyo wants to know. Who showed up on Monday? Why did Kagura have to throw her hands up in the air and use such a stern face? "He's just a broth- bother."

"Brother?" Kanna repeats what Kikyo cannot say.

"Bother!" Kagura shouts, then angrily stuffs her mouth full of rice and meat. Kikyo isn't sure if her children know what this means, but she knows that Kagura has done this since she was a child: when she says something by accident she always tries to fill her mouth until her cheeks burst.

"Are you dating again?" Hakudoshi's words force his half-sister's face to do something Kikyo can't describe- but she almost chokes because of it, drinking some of the baby's juice to unclog her throat. "He didn't sound like that Sesshoumaru guy."

"_NO!_ I am not dating again, Mr. _There's-This-Girl-At-School!_" The spitfire turns into a stand-off between the two of them after a few more jabs. Kikyo hears things like _'one-armed bastard'_ and _'shy journalist'_ and wants to know where her son learned to use such words to describe people. Or rather, because she knows where, she would like to know why he thinks it's okay to use them.

Kikyo spends time with her children as the sun begins to fall across the sky. She touches Kanna's hairpins where the girl quietly watches her brother and step-sister duel, and caresses Hakudoshi's arm until he starts rubbing the old scar anxiously, like he might have felt a chill. The infant watches her the entire time, whether Kikyo is beside her daughter or peering curiously into the big bag to see what else they might have brought with them. Her baby continues to watch, at one point reaching out and grasping the air as she hesitantly touches her bowl of food. Just like the coins, Kikyo can hold the tiny sesame seeds and remember their fragrance, recalling the warmth of good food and the sustenance of being full.

She can nuzzle her baby and make him laugh, his small fingers still groping the air although he cannot touch her. Kikyo can whisper the words to him that no one else can hear, watching him bounce in his step-sister's lap as Kagura jiggles her leg for his amusement.

"This sucks, I say we come back again in the summer when it's not so damn cold." Kagura's comment comes after all the food has been eaten and she and Hakudoshi have run out of things to tease each other over. The infant is asleep in his stroller where Kikyo is next to him, Kanna cleaning up the pieces from the board-game the four of them were playing together- Kikyo didn't get to roll the dice herself, but she was still given a colour (red) and assigned a turn in the rotation. Kanna won.

"You wouldn't be cold if you had a proper jacket." Kikyo is proud of her son for pointing out his step-sister's foolishness.

"Tsh, if I get sick it just means you guys have to cook." That isn't the point, but Kikyo watches the children pack up as Kagura shakes off their blanket and folds it over her arms a few times. Hakudoshi is watching the sky overhead and Kanna starts moving faster as the sky begins to darken. The rain has come again.

Kikyo listens to her family laugh and talk, then really start to hurry once the first drops of rain begin to hit the ground. Kanna comes up to the grave first, placing her hand on the black stone over Kikyo's name. Her little girl goes quiet for a moment, then Kikyo sees her almost start to smile.

Hakudoshi is next, quickly telling his sister to help pull out the plastic cover for the baby's stroller. He doesn't touch the grave, but Kikyo watches her son stand there with a clenched fist, looking at her name.

"Mom..." The rain is becoming harder, he needs to go before he gets sick but Kikyo can't make him leave. Instead she just watches as he pulls up his sleeve and exposes the long white line that travels up the side of his arm. Kikyo's sadness becomes real again, and he touches the scar, rubbing it nervously, then steels himself and says what he needed to: "It won't happen again." Her baby, her first baby...

"You done? We can hang on if you need it-"

"I'm done, lets go." Hakudoshi pulls his hood up and walks away from the grave. Kikyo expected Kagura to come and say something to her, but Kaguya's daughter is just fussing with the large bag Hakudoshi takes from her. Her jacket, unlike Kanna's and Haku's, has no hood on it. She says something about an umbrella and Kanna sheepishly admits that she forgot it.

Kagura doesn't get mad, Kikyo recognizes that her step-daughter has be come a very patient woman.

"Alright, lets go! I'm already soaked!"

Kikyo's family leaves her as the sky grows dim and the rain continues to fall, the water ice cold as it runs down the face of her grave. They feel like tears, and Kikyo stands and waits until she can't hear her children laughing or shouting anymore as they run off, no more movement through the downpour as there's no thunder overhead. Lightning storms need warm, moist air to form, it's too cold in December for that kind of humidity.

The rain feels like tears, but Kikyo is smiling. She remembers joy.

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><p><strong>There we go, did that sound like Kikyo to anyone? I was sort of hoping to catch snatches of the real character. Lemme know if I succeeded?<strong>

**Read and review! **


	25. Ad Nauseum

**Whole Playlist. Room of Angels.**

**My updates are so random now woah what the heck. I was gonna go and post this up on Tuesday since I went camping (thus missing Wednesday), but then decided against it because I'm cruel and bitter that way. Really I just didn't want the stupid nagging in the back of my head to go check hits and reviews when I was miles away from the nearest signal.**

**But here we are on the 25th chapter! ****I can say that I've been making good progress on a later portion of TC, although that had to be set aside for the camping trip. I'm also still hoping to start updating TMTR again by the end of August. Now, back to your regularly scheduled drama!**

**If I hadn't writen the first part of this chapter, I wasn't going to write at all. I'm very glad I wrote it.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Ad Nauseum

"_More, please- just a little more..._"

She shouldn't be here, the bastard said he was driving her home but now she's here instead. He has her pinned again, because he likes it a little rough like that, and she can't convince herself that this is a bad thing. Kagura's face is down in the soft pillows that smell like him, her insides tight as she can feel his hand under her chest and stomach. Her shirt is half undone down her front but Kagura can't pick herself up far enough off the bed to help him along. He could just rip the damn thing off for all she cares- but he's not like that.

The man breathing over her ear and forcing her down likes to be a little rough, but he's so proper about it at the same time that it just makes her heart beat and her insides twist. He won't rip her clothes or pull her hair- well, not _too_ tightly, but he'll take his time working every button loose and shimmying her pants bit-by-bit down her thighs. He likes hearing her pant before they've even started, and she doesn't know _what_ he does behind her ear but she feels it travel all the way down her spine, or sometimes run across her front.

"_Only a **little** more?_"

"_Just keep going, I-_" She's liberated of her shirt and his breath is so hot down her back, his tongue darting out between her shoulder-blades just so he can breathe and blow over the skin. Hot and cold, fast and slow, he's teasing because he knows she'll beg if he waits long enough. He loves that control, the bastard, but even if she knew how to make him beg and strain for her, right now Kagura couldn't put it into practice if she tried. His fingers just play with the straps of her bra but won't undo the clasp behind her back, he doesn't want to strip her right away; he likes to save some things for after.

"_Sesshoumaru-_"

"_Shh..._" He shifts and her pants are far enough down her legs that he kicks them the rest of the way off, Kagura's eyes shut as his hips press down on hers from behind. That- it's not what she's used to but sure- fine, go ahead: she'll try anything once if it's with him. But he's still only teasing, he just pushes and grinds but doesn't do anything, his hands grope and squeeze her- one from behind, the other kneading her breast through her bra. His grasp is hard and twisting enough that it's almost painful, but she just groans into the pillow, her spine bending and knees struggling to try and push herself up.

How much more encouragement does he need? She can feel his mouth attacking the base of her skull now, teeth grazing her skin at just the right time in _just_ the right way to make her tense and whimper under him. She can smell whatever that is on his skin- his cologne, his aftershave, she's never asked. She forces her arms to stretch up over her head, searching for the edge of the mattress, maybe even the top of the headboard- anything she can grab and hoist herself up with. If she can turn around then maybe she can force his hand, or if he doesn't want her running away then maybe he'll just get to the point and-

"_Kagura..._" Yes? Oh please, let him be ready to- "_Kagura, what's wrong?_" Nothing's wrong, he's just taking too long! "_Kagura._" What!

"Kagura, wake up." Oh fuck.

_'No, no it's not a dream..._' It was a dream. _'No, come back-_' Nu-uh, he hadn't even been there to begin with.

Kagura groaned again, but this time it was with a distinct sense of loss and frustration. She also discovered why her mouth was open over her thread-bare pillow, and why the quilt twisted around her body felt so hot and sweaty.

"Are you sick?" Kagura couldn't sit up, she just barely managed to turn her face away from her pillow so she could see where Hakudoshi was standing over her. He was fully dressed and ready for school, which was probably why he'd woken her up: Kagura was usually the first one up in the morning. Her sinuses felt stuffed full of cotton balls; her cheeks swollen and tender, nose completely blocked off and her throat dry from breathing through her mouth all night. Lifting her head up too high caused a dull ache to start at the base of her skull- cursed that damned, sensitive spot! and creep all the way up along her scalp until the pain pierced her behind the eyes.

"_No..._"

"Will you buy a better jacket now?" That... fucking rainstorm last night. Oh, Kagura could have just strangled that bus-driver for being so late to pick them up at their stop. They needed a car... Kagura needed to learn how to _drive..._Properly. She'd picked up the basics with-

"_Go to school._" Hakudoshi left her bedside and walked off, but Kagura didn't hear the door open and a moment later her brother was back again.

"We don't have any cough medicine." Don't say _that!_ She didn't wanna go to the pharmacy! "I'll drop Kanna off then bring you back something."

"No. Go to _school._" She repeated into her pillow, tempted to throw the firm cushion at him, but that would be far too much movement right now. Her head was like a stone weight. "I'll make tea." And she'd go to the pharmacy. It was Friday, Kagura didn't have to leave for work until, like, eight tonight.

Finally she heard her brother give up, Kagura's eyes shut against the pounding headache in her skull as Hakudoshi and Kanna got their shoes on and left. Haku knew to lock the door behind him, and he'd drop his sister off at school on his way to class: they knew the buses and trains well enough that even the small detour for the older boy didn't take more than ten minutes out of his time.

'_Fever, chills, headache, stuffed nose...'_ Cold, lonely, and completely unsatisfied after that dream.

Kagura almost wanted to cry a little as she picked up her quilt and wrapped it around her shoulders, making her way into the kitchen. Turning on the stove was beyond her though, and as she busied around searching blindly for the tea (turns out it was right there on the counter, damn it), Kagura decided she really didn't want to bother with hot water right now.

She fed the baby- since he didn't go to daycare on Fridays or Mondays, and tried to feel better under a hot shower, but in the end just dumped her baby-brother's blocks on the floor next to the couch and dropped herself onto her fold-out bed again.

She pretended to sleep for an hour, maybe two, so she was aware of Hakudoshi coming back to the apartment (stupid kid...) and setting down a bag from the pharmacy for her. He also put down something else, but even after he took a few seconds to talk to the baby and stack up some of the red and yellow blocks for him, Kagura didn't have the strength to move or speak.

When she finally managed to sit up again, half an hour later, Kagura found herself staring at a bottle of cough medicine and an open eviction notice.

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><p>Numb. That was a good word to describe how Hakudoshi felt on his way to school. He'd ignored Kagura's demand that he skip the errand to bring her medicine and just head to class, so now he was going to be a good hour late, but that didn't really matter. On the train, walking the ten minutes to the next station, and on the other train that stopped a block from the middle school, Hakudoshi was completely numb.<p>

He hadn't seen the envelope on their door when he and Kanna left, but they'd been on the other doors on their floor. Large, heavy envelopes with a big red label on the front, taped over the peep-holes of each suite. He'd ignored them and just taken Kanna to school like he was supposed to, the two of them agreeing that, no, Kagura was not going to work tonight. If it came down to it they'd just sit on her to keep her in bed.

So he'd picked up a bottle of the thick red syrup that made his little sister's skin crawl and gone back home. _Then_ he'd seen the envelope taped to their door, and curiosity finally got the best of him and he'd pulled it off, opening it up with his nails and sticking the tape on the wall when he couldn't get his fingers free of the industrial tact.

He should have just left it on the door.

Evicted. They were being evicted. He didn't get all of the terminology, but he read through it a few times and Hakudoshi understood what it was saying. The entire building was going to be demolished, or gutted, or just left there to fall apart as far as he could tell. But the specifics didn't matter, because before that could happen his family was being _evicted_. They had thirty days to pack their stuff and _get out_ or they'd be _kicked out_ by whoever had gone and bought the building.

Money had nothing to do with it, and at the same time it had _everything_ to do with it. It didn't matter if they could afford a higher rent or not, Kagura wasn't being told that she either had to make x-amount of money or lose the apartment, she was being told the apartment was already being taken away. They were already, essentially, homeless.

_'We can't go back there._' No, not completely homeless. There was the house. There was that empty shell they'd run away from with its bloody den and eerie kitchen. They couldn't go back to that place. Hakudoshi would never _sleep_ in that room again, he'd never let his sister near the closet where she'd hidden so many times. He was never going back into that kitchen, he was never going to have to look down on the place where his _mother_-

"You're late, Onigumo!" And numb, which was why he noticed but didn't react to the stares as he came into his classroom a good hour and a half after school had started. He'd missed his stop. Twice. On both trains. Hakudoshi just sort of mumbled something that was probably an apology or maybe just a brush-off before he took his seat in the middle of the room.

The lesson was a loud, blaring mess of intonation and gestures. The words came at him out of order, like the feedback on a warped recording, a broken echo. He didn't even open his exercise book all class, just sat there and... just tried not to let the reality sink in. If the real world came and forced itself on him then he'd lose it in the middle of class, and he didn't want to do that. He just had to wait until lunch.

If he waited until lunch then he could address the queasiness in his gut, that nauseous feeling that made the room lilt and twist around him. The teacher's voice gave him a headache that turned into a migraine, pain wreathing his temples as the words kept overlapping and droning over one another, stabbing and dragging as they combed through his hair and clawed their way in through the back of his skull.

How long had it taken Kagura to find the apartment they were living in right now? A few weeks? A month? She had three weeks to find them a new place and what would happen if that wasn't enough time? What would they do if they had to go back to that house? That place with the blood and the screaming- all the broken glass still stuck in the carpet from that night, the kitchen still with that smell of blood where his arm had stained the cabinets and the floor. They couldn't go back to that. Hakudoshi couldn't go back to that.

There was some sort of weight pressing down hard on his shoulders, his hands white and numb as he found himself rubbing his arm through the sleeve of his uniform. After several minutes he was still rubbing, and the skin was growing red and sore, but it didn't hurt the way he remembered. He wasn't bleeding the way he remembered, his arm hadn't been split open by the rough teeth of a knife and he couldn't hear the screaming and the crying. No one was screaming, no one was crying, he couldn't breathe but the only thing he could almost hear was the teacher's voice, and Hakudoshi couldn't make sense of that anyways, so he was okay.

He just had to stay in his seat and remain completely quiet, rubbing his arm until it began to hurt badly enough that he brought his hand up and wiped it over his forehead instead. Why was he sweating? He hadn't picked up whatever had made Kagura sick, had he?

_'We can't both get sick, that can't happen.'_ The last time Kagura had gotten sick she'd lost one of her jobs. Kagura had quit working at the coffee shop once Hakudoshi started working at WacDonalds- what if she lost her job because she couldn't dance this weekend?

What if Kagura had no job, and they had no place to live, and that guy from social services came to check on them?

"_Sir! I think Hakudoshi is sick!"_

"_Onigumo, what's wrong?"_

Everything. Everything was wrong.

"_Alright, someone help take him down to the nurse's."_

He couldn't stand up on his own, he could barely walk once someone got their arms under his and made him move. He couldn't go back to that house. He couldn't go back to the place where she had died. He couldn't let Kagura do everything and then have it all fall apart in front of her. He couldn't let Kanna be taken away or the baby be put in some foster home. He couldn't stop his mind from escaping down that slippery slope of doom and worst-case scenarios, but right now he couldn't stop anything _else_ either.

Hakudoshi wasn't numb anymore, and the instant that realization struck all the queasiness and nausea came surging up like a wave. He just barely got himself free of the classmates carrying him down the hall, stumbled several uneasy, frantic steps away from them, then shoved the top off the garbage can in front of him and retched into the plastic. Before he had the chance to finish his insides twisted and he did it again, someone coming close enough to set a hand on his back, a voice he couldn't hear speaking words he didn't understand. Someone else was shouting, running off to find the nurse.

Girls. The classmates had been girls. He only realized this when he recognized the shouting voice: that was Karan. And the one standing behind him kept her hand on his shoulder, but then there was the sound of paper ripping before Rin held a wet square out to him, he couldn't smell it but it was moist. His hand was shaking and his mouth felt raw with sour bile and his half-digested breakfast, but he took the wipe and rubbed over his forehead and eye first, then his nose. The thin, papery cloth picked up hot fluid from his eyes and upper lip, and he still wasn't breathing properly as he coughed and spat into the garbage again.

"Hakudoshi?" He wasn't crying, but his eyes kept burning and he couldn't make it stop as his knees shook. He didn't want to but he felt his legs start to fold, hands still gripping the garbage can as he had to either let himself sink down to the floor, or tough it out until he fell in a graceless heap. So he folded instead, Rin holding on tight to his left arm, but it wasn't enough to keep him up. "You're still sweating..." And shaking.

He couldn't stop the shaking anymore than he could make himself stand up, his legs still trembling even as he came down to rest on his knees, weight on his hands where they were pressed down against the hall floor. A door slid open and someone, someone who wasn't Rin or their teacher poked their head out and asked something- they probably wanted to know what the commotion was, and Hakudoshi couldn't hear what Rin said. He just stared at the floor, willing the voices away.

He couldn't be sick now. Right now, he wasn't allowed to be sick. If he and Kagura were both ill then who would take Kanna to and from school? She was twelve but her school was too far away from their apartment- and if he was sick then who would watch Kanna and the baby while Kagura tried finding another place for them to live?

And if he was sick _today_ then Kagura would have to come and get him, schools got weird about things like that: if you were sick then you weren't allowed to just _leave_. He could just go it alone, but then the school would tell the child services guy. Hakudoshi was fifteen, but he was still a child; the law didn't care about the rest of that stuff, that Hojo guy would just say that Kagura wasn't taking proper care of him.

If Kagura couldn't take care of the fifteen-year-old, then how could they expect her to take care of the fourteen-_month_-old? So he couldn't be sick. Not today. Please, not today.

"Don't-" His insides were still twisting, his arms weak and legs trembling. Even his back wasn't strong enough to keep him straight, that weight was just pressing down and crushing him. "Rin- don't..."

"Don't what?" She was still holding his arm, one of hers wrapped around the limb while her other hand was pressed down over his. The teacher had gone away, back into his classroom where he was either teaching again or on his phone. "I think they're calling an ambulance for you-"

"_No!_" No! No ambulance! He couldn't go to the hospital, how would Kagura come pick him up if he was off surrounded by doctors and nurses? They wouldn't let her within spitting distance of him if she was sick and with the baby! Who would look after Kanna if he was stuck in some room with paper sheets and his sister had to waste time arguing with nurses? "No, send me to the nurse- I'm fine."

"But you just-" Rin always wore her hair with that short little pig-tail on the side, it looked dumb but sometimes you almost thought it wilted when she wasn't happy, like it was really a flower growing out of her head instead of just brown hair. "-you look _really_sick, you need to see a doctor!"

"I don't need a doctor- I need to go _home!_" He wrenched his arm away from her, but instead of jumping up and willing his legs to carry him off towards the head office, Hakudoshi saw the hurt look on her face instead and all he could do was sit there on the floor. "I just-" He didn't... know. He didn't know what he could do, and it was the worst feeling in the world, being powerless.

So he just sat there, quiet and shaking inside his too-young, too-weak body to do anything else. And when Karan and the nurse came at last and helped him down to the office on the first floor, Hakudoshi just kept his eyes down and did his best not to say anything. And when Ms. Taijiya came into the dim little room with the cot where he was laid down, he didn't tell the counsellor anything either. He just asked them to call his sister, even though he knew Kagura couldn't come, and he didn't want to wake her if she was sleeping, and he didn't want any of this to be happening.

So he just stayed like that. Shaking.

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><p>"Yeah, of course I..." Kagura didn't know how to make herself sound less sick and stuffed up and tired as she gasped into her cellphone. Being heavily medicated and sick didn't make her very good conversation, and considering the numbers she'd been crunching before the initial call from the school, Kagura felt her control over the situation wearing dangerously thin. "Can I talk to him?"<p>

Oh wow, he couldn't even walk to the secretary's desk? Kagura chose not to tell the school that she had no car.

"I... as soon as I can, I'll be there." It was raining outside, she could see and hear it hitting the living room window. "I'll call again when I'm close." She hung up the phone and gave in to a coughing fit, standing up slowly with her blanket still wrapped around her shoulders as she crossed sluggishly from the kitchen over to that window. Outside was that cold sleet from last night, the stuff that went straight through jackets and sweaters and whatever other layers Kagura could hope to pull on over herself.

But the school had called her, so if she didn't go then they might begin to panic. If Hakudoshi was as bad as the nurse said then they might call in an ambulance, and if they did that then Kagura was obviously not a fit care-giver...

_'This... in one day this is too much.'_Much too much. She slumped down on the couch and thumbed through her contacts, found Kanna's school and called.

"_Miss Onigumo in 3-H? No, her teacher hasn't said anything._"

"I just got a call about her brother so I wanted to check in. Thanks." At least_ someone_ wasn't sick. The baby would have to sleep in Kanna's room for the next few days then. She wanted to stand up after making the call, but couldn't manage it; her head just pulsed and her eyes went hazy just trying to get back up and into the kitchen.

Papers, lots of papers, were scattered over the kitchen counters. Numbers and estimates and guesses, invoices and receipts and pay-stubs. The government forms regarding her support money for the infant and Kanna, how much money she made and how much she spent on rent, how much wiggle-room was in that budget.

She'd only had one newspaper, but had pulled out the real-estate section anyways, and the classifieds, and anything else that might help her find a place to move in with a teenager, a young girl, and a baby. Someplace that would let them in, close to transit because they didn't have a car, something she could afford and that they would all fit inside.

Today, at least, there was almost nothing. Even if she sacrificed bus-stops and train stations, two phone calls had already crossed the day's most likely finds off her list. People didn't like renting out to single _'parents'_with infants.

_'I can... I can try._' And she did. She tried getting dressed, tried putting on as many layers as might protect her from the rain before she found herself already over-heating with her fever, her tee-shirt wet before she managed to get the layers off again. She tried pulling on her boots for the rain and almost tipped right over- leaning against the wall with her shoulder to keep from breaking her neck. It was a helpless, horrible feeling, she couldn't even try getting the stroller out of the closet. She couldn't even put together the bag she'd have to carry on her back to make sure there were enough baby supplies for what would be, at least, two hours of her day.

_Kagura tried_. But she found herself in frustrated tears too many times, looking at the clock and seeing a half-hour already spent between the school's call about Hakudoshi and her promise to go pick him up. He should never have read that notice, he was fifteen and had dealt with enough shit; money was Kagura's problem, not his, he should never have found out. She shouldn't have let him leave without talking to him first.

She shouldn't have gotten _sick._

'I can't...

' It was okay until she got sick. Or it was okay until they were told to get out of their too-small apartment. Kagura could take one blow or the other, but this? No, this she couldn't do. _'I can't..._' Not alone. _'Help..._' This time, _now_, she needed help. She sank down to the floor in the hall outside their tiny kitchen, out of the infant's line of sight where he was babbling at the TV and playing with his blocks. She leaned her back on the wall, wearing that same jean jacket from last night and able to feel the damp denim drawing the heat out of her body, leaving her flushed skin clammy and cold.

_'Just this once, I need help..._' She was still crying but the tears were silent, just that constant flow of wetness from her eyes and down her cheeks, a stream that wouldn't taper off and didn't care whether she blinked her red eyes or not. Kagura had her cell-phone in her hand and flipped the silver device open, her thumb moving through the familiar pattern of worn buttons and old screens.

Menu, contacts, sort- S., select... confirm?

_'I need help..._' She had to call him. She needed help, she wanted him to help her. He wasn't supposed to get her out of this whole mess, just the small one, the one right now. Because he had a car and he knew not to ask questions, and Hakudoshi was too sick on his back to put up a fight if the one-armed bastard he hated so much showed up outside Hitomiko Middle School with Kagura's verbal permission to pick him up.

He'd get it. If she explained it then he'd understand, it'd make sense and he'd at least, if nothing else, pick up her brother and bring him back to the apartment. And if he wanted to know more then she'd tell him, because right now she needed help, and the only person she could call was resting at her fingertips, and he-

_"I... have to put him back to bed."_

And he... he_ failed_her the last time... when she might have needed help. When she... almost relied on him.

_"Right._"

He'd walked away, that- that was what he'd done. He'd seen a situation, peered into it, not even had enough of a glimpse to get the whole picture... and he'd just walked away. He _didn't_ get it... Or if he did, he just hadn't _wanted_ it... So how the hell could she ask him _now? _Because he gave her a ride home after she screamed at his soon-to-be sister-in-law? He hadn't said a single thing to her the entire time, he'd called her cell as if making _fun_ of the fact that he hadn't called her before then for anything, not even for the time of day or just a fake '_Hi how are you?'._

Not even a formal break-up.

Kagura swore and tossed down the phone, the curse rushing past her lips as a frustrated grunt, her face twisting and eyes weeping as she ran her hands up and down her face, fingers reaching up and tangling with her hair as she dropped her head down and cried in silence. If she was too loud then the infant would hear her, and if he heard her he would start to cry, and then she'd have no more hope.

Get up and do it herself. That was her only option, and after several more minutes of wallowing in illness and anger, Kagura shoved her hand in her pockets and... what was that? Her fingers closed around something folded and damp, plastic. A small bag holding a crinkled business card unfolded as she dragged it out of the wet denim.

_'That... bastard._' He'd left it on Kikyo's grave, because he was oh-so-noble. Kagura didn't even know what the gesture meant, but she read the number, a new one, a combination she didn't know and hadn't seen before. She read it and grabbed her phone up off the carpet, her fingers numb and shaking as she punched in the numbers and froze with her thumb over the call button.

This was... such a huge mistake.

She hit confirm. She almost hung up when she felt the line connect and heard the first ring, actually pulled her hand away when it buzzed again, and if it got to three and she was sent to voice-mail then-

_"Hello?_" Kagura froze, she didn't- "_...Kagura?"_Hang up, hang up! Hang up the damn phone right now she'd rather go it alone than-

"This is..." Between tears and congestion she couldn't get it out in one go, lifting her wrist to her nose as she tried to breathe without wheezing or sobbing. She failed miserably at both. "This is the _only_chance I'm going to give you."

Quiet. The line was almost deathly silent for a few moments, she had no idea where he was right now, he could have been at home in bed, or driving around Tokyo doing errands, or trapped behind a desk for all Kagura knew of his work hours. Then:

_"What do you need?"_

"I..." Words never hurt so much. "I need help."

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><p><strong>Poor Haku~ But c'mon, the kid's got a stack of reasons why he should be so freaked out. Evictions like this also do happen, as I know its caused a lot of grief in and around the Vancouver Area. Usually it means the building's been sold.<strong>

**I also don't know why FF keeps screwing with my spaces. I check the word document and I don't see typos that appear in the FF preview. Strange... I also still can't put a ! and ? right next to one another, I really hope they change that eventually so I don't have to space all funny-like.**

**Read and review! See you guys on Monday!**


	26. Another Bro Bother!

**Fukai Mori, and a lot more.**

**Hmm, this story meanders a lot, specifically in chapters like this. I think when I revise this story at the end (if I ever finish) I'll go in and cut certain characters, make it a better Sesshou-Kagu story. Bya will probably go away, especially since he starts developing his own sub-plot in a few more chapters.**

**Messy messy Sunny. But whatever, I still love this story!**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Another Bro- Bother!

"Hey, has his sister shown up yet?" Sango Taijiya kept her voice down as she shut the door to the nurse's office, a little sceptical in her mind of how wise it was to keep the lights off and the door closed with Hakudoshi still inside, but as far as the counsellor could tell he was asleep.

Shaking. But maybe asleep.

"Oh, Miss Kaze?" The secretary turned around in her chair from where she'd been stamping envelopes, prepping certificates for that year's cultural festival to go out in the mail. "She said she'd call again when she was close to the school, but that was..."

"Over an hour ago..." Sango finished slowly, frowning as she folded her arms slowly.

_'The poor guy...'_ How irresponsible could some people be? She knew better than to judge, but at the same time she knew more than most of the people in this school about what the boy in the other room was going through. She was the school counsellor, Sango was the one who'd had to read through the police report last December when Hakudoshi came back from two unexplained weeks off. Domestic abuse at its worst, but how could his sister just leave him here like this?

"Maybe call again?" Or maybe Sango'd just call the family herself. The secretary just gave her a sheepish look, her face a little sad, but more uncomfortable than anything. All anyone in this office was thinking about was contagious diseases, the last thing they needed was a school epidemic.

"Oh!" The phone went off just as Sango stopped and rubbed the side of her head, beginning to feel drained with sitting in that dark room trying to get an over-clocked fifteen-year-old to speak to her. "That's their number-! Hitomiko Middle School, how can I help you? Miss Kaze? No, I'm sorry, he's still not feeling any better. Uh-huh, okay, just one moment." The girl at the desk quickly hit the hold button, then turned her chair again to look at Sango.

"Does he have a brother?" Huh?

"Uh, a baby brother, yeah. Why?" The girl just held up her hand again, punching something into her computer- probably the student's information. Reading over her shoulder- yep, that was it, Hakudoshi Onigumo. The girl twirled the phone back up to her ear.

"I'm sorry, Miss Kaze, but we don't have your brother on record. What's his name?" Oh no, _now_ Sango was getting mad, folding her arms tersely and telling herself not to jump the gun. She couldn't come so was gonna make up some person? Probably just a friend of hers who had no legal right to be anywhere near a public middle school. It probably spoke well of the guy that he'd run an errand in the middle of the day for a friend, but Sango couldn't help but bristle.

Of course she wouldn't write it up, the poor kid in the back had enough problems, but it just made her so _mad_ when people couldn't handle their responsibilities!

_'Calm, Sango, calm..._' Just close yours eyes and breathe deep. She knew the situation, she knew it couldn't be easy. She just wished that after only a handful of years doing this job, that _every_ family would stop making the same mistakes in front of her. You can't just _not_ pick up your sick little brother!

"_Byaguya,_ okay. But I'll have to ask him a few questions when he arrives."

"It's _kuya_, actually, with a k." Songo jumped but the secretary almost shrieked as a voice from the open window interjected. A smiling man in a slightly wrinkled blue suit and tie was leaning with arms folded on the counter outside the office, an umbrella hanging from his elbow and probably dripping water onto the floor. "Byakuya Kaze, I'm here to pick up my little brother?" Sango heard the inner alarm bell start ringing.

_'Likely story! They look almost nothing alike!'_ His pale face was much shorter and rounder than the boy's in the back, his hair black, another obvious no, and he looked far thinner than Hakudoshi could ever be, almost lost inside his straight-fitted suit. The only reason Sango kept her mouth shut was because he was speaking to the secretary, who was now handling a three-way conversation, and just when she was going to comment she saw him tilt his head and caught the violet sheen hiding under his black locks.

Big whoop, anyone could dye their hair. But no one went to those extremes to pick up a child.

And no one bought violet contacts on the fly either. So why was she just finding out about this guy now?

"I'm sorry, it's protocol but, Miss Kaze can you tell me your brother's employment?"

"I don't think she knows that answer, may I?" Sango had never seen one of the secretaries surrender their phones before, but the man lightly removed the receiver from the woman's stunned hand, resting it between the crook of his neck while drawing out his wallet. "I'm a lawyer, little sister. Legal aid for now, class of '10." What was this? He handed what looked like a business card over to the secretary, followed by a driver's licence. At least he knew how to verify his identity. But wait, _little _sister?

The secretary was stumped but Sango watched everything happen by the book. Did he have verbal permission? Yes he had verbal permission, in real-time too. Could he prove he was who he said? Yes he could, he even had his old student card from an American school of law. He filled out the forms, reading the information over carefully before signing, initialling, and returning the paperwork to the secretary.

"May I see him now?"

"Uh, yes sir. Right through that door there." The secretary pointed to the office door around the corner and the man smiled politely with thanks, but Sango was still not convinced and headed him off. They didn't collide, but as he passed into the workspace she made a point of getting in his way, a smile painted on her face and a gentle glaze over her voice.

"Hi, I'm Sango Taijiya, School Counsellor." Byakuya Kaze, yes, she heard his name at the window. They shared a quick, mutual bow- actually, she bowed, he stuck his hand out before remembering himself. How long was he overseas for? "I'm sorry, but, Hakudoshi's never mentioned you before. Is there a reason for that?"

"Oh, of course." His smile seemed polite, but also fixed in place the way hers was. He also didn't offer anything after that, just pointed to the closed door a little ways further into the office. "Is he down there?" Er, yes, but that wasn't the point. "Does he already have his bag, or should I pick that up from his teacher?" No, Hakudoshi had his backpack. After answering the question and leading him to the closed door, Sango intervened again, a little bolder this time.

"Mister Kaze, I hope you understand why I'm asking but-"

"Of course I understand, Miss Taijiya. And if Hakudoshi decides to tell you then I certainly won't begrudge him that." He was being evasive.

"Don't you think it would be better for him if you told me instead?"

"No." Something in his voice changed. It wasn't menacing or dark, but a firmness struck him and resonated with the flat decline. For a moment neither of them said anything else, standing outside the closed door watching one another closely as the young man slipped his hands into his trouser pockets. Something in him was different, something in his posture and the expression on his face. His violet eyes betrayed a mixture of irritation and boredom, watching her with swiftly fading interest.

Sango almost took offence to his dismissive change in attitude, but then she realized why it looked so familiar. Hakudoshi did the same thing whenever he didn't want to discuss something with her, whenever he wanted to deny a subject of conversation and just pretend the question simply hadn't been asked. Now his brother was assuming the same defensive stance, the same distant expression masking his face.

It was how the boy inside coped with things, it was his mechanism for handling trauma: Hakudoshi would hold and hide information, hoarding pieces of knowledge and glimmers of understanding. He panicked when the patterns around him were obscured, when he was cut out of the loop and not told what was going on around him. To make himself feel safe, he hung onto details and key moments, rarely speaking unless it was to leave something out. Sango only knew what had happened to his mother because his sister's statement had been in the file delivered to the school, Hakudoshi had never offered contradictory statements- but only if you already knew what the full story was, otherwise his rendition sounded completely different.

"You will have to excuse me for being rude, Miss Taijiya, but you're my brother's counsellor, not mine." That was true, but Sango didn't have to agree with his approach to all of this. "And if you insist on supervising, which I assume you will, please refrain from commenting." It was strange, his hand moved and rested on the door handle, pushing and letting the door swing open by less than an inch, but he maintained eye-contact with her. He let a sliver of light flood into the dark room with the cot, but didn't make any motion to actually head inside as he continued to address her. He was bold: "Because no, Miss Taijiya, I don't know the young man very well. Apparently it was a toss up between me and his sister's ex-boyfriend to come pick him up, so unless you think it would be better for him to deal with that sort of enmity right now..."

It was both a threat and an explanation, it was him giving her just enough veiled information to make her agree with him, even if she didn't quite know what was going on. He said that Hakudoshi could speak with her if he really wanted to, so he wanted her to trust him not to intimidate the poor boy in that room. Sango was hard-pressed to accept any of it, but she didn't really get the option to decline.

"Lets go."At some point the man had let go of the door knob, which allowed the boy inside to pull it the rest of the way open now.

Hakudoshi looked _ill._ He was a pale young man, something she painfully recognized about his supposed brother, but right now his skin looked grey and yellow. His eyes weren't completely open and he was visibly leaning on the door, the tremors from his high fever still present. His backpack's straps were coiled around his forearm, but his grip on it was lax.

"You're here to take me home?" He didn't make eye-contact with the man, but he didn't look at Sango either so she knew it wasn't his reaction to fear. Hakudoshi would rather stare down whatever frightened or angered him, he never backed down unless it just wasn't a threat.

"I am." It was a cold greeting, the lawyer not removing his hands from his pockets as he spoke, nodding down at the backpack. "Do you want me to carry that for you?" Hakudoshi's answer was to just drop the sac, the man unwinding the stray straps from around the boy's arm as he lifted the small book-bag. "Thank you for taking care of him, Miss Taijiya, I'm sure his sister will be in contact."

_'He dropped the 'my sister' after he opened the door.'_ His warning had been more for Hakudoshi than for Sango, communicating to someone he'd known had been listening, someone who knew things she didn't... But he was leaving parts out, he was crafting his own pattern out of the information. Did Hakudoshi not know that they were related? _'Half-brothers. What sort of person is their father really like? There has to be at least ten years between the two of them...'_ And yet they both followed the same evasive patterns...

"Try and get some rest over the weekend, okay, Hakudoshi?" The words dropped from her mouth, a habitual response.

"Nn."

"Thank you."

And that was it. The strange man didn't help his half-brother walk out of the office, but if he'd tried Hakudoshi probably would have fought him off. Byakuya had his backpack and his own umbrella, and he had a car to take the boy home in. That was as much help as Hakudoshi could accept as they left.

Sango was unsettled. What kind of fear did you have to grow up with where you couldn't show your little brother you really cared, and you couldn't let your older one take care of you?

* * *

><p>They'd been in the car for about five minutes, then Hakudoshi finally found the ability to speak.<p>

"Who are you?" Shouldn't have gotten in a car with someone he didn't know. It was like, the most basic warning about strangers. They printed it on cereal boxes and candy wrappers didn't they?

The man driving looked almost familiar, sounded almost familiar, like Hakudoshi should have known him but he didn't know from where or how. The rain pelting the car's roof and windows was making a lot of noise, but the hum of the wipers was low and soothing. He was freezing but he knew the man in the front seat had turned on the heat, Hakudoshi laying down in the back like he'd been told he could; that was why he was sitting back here to begin with. It was an old car, with that ugly plastic-y leather on everything. The entire thing bumped and swayed as they drove along, a terrible ride when you were sick...

"...Does the name Kaguya mean anything to you?" Kagura? "No, Kagu_ya._" That almost sounds like... he couldn't quite remember but...

"Kagura's... mother?" Kagura was his half-sister, and if he tried really hard to focus his eyes Hakudoshi could see the man sitting in front of him nod his head slowly.

"My mother too." He closed his eyes, because it was hard to think and look around at the same time.

"So you're..." His half-brother. They were related. Nothing else in their life seemed the same, but they both had Naraku for a father.

"Nice to meet you, Hakudoshi." The teen didn't answer, he just kept his eyes closed and tried to get the pounding in his head under control. After another ten minutes of swerving, the rickety vehicle finally slowed down and the man in the front seat shut off the engine. "Home sweet home, right?"

Haku froze. He'd been about to sit up and instead he just froze, his entire body seizing up with him only half-way to properly resting his weight on the seat behind him. He was just staring at the plastic interior of Byakuya's car and not moving, a heavy, suffocating weight drifting back down over his shoulders.

Again, it was gonna happen again, and he couldn't make himself calm down.

"...You okay?" No, no he wasn't. "Hakudo..?" Byakuya's door was half-open, letting a draft into the car that both did and didn't help him feel better, Hakudoshi didn't know how to explain it to himself better than that. "Hey, just hang on." The man in the front seat got out and shut his door, leaving Hakudoshi alone in the car, his eyes looking out through the rain-splattered windows. He could see Byakuya's blue suit as a long, tall blur, but something had caught his attention, or maybe he was going to talk on his phone in the rain, or something, Hakudoshi had no idea.

"_O-kay_..." The door on the other side of the car opened up, the back door, and suddenly the man who had been in the front seat was folding his long limbs into the back-seat where Haku was still propped up on his arms. A pair of large hands took his shoulders and helped balance him on his seat, his book-bag settled on the car floor between them. Hakudoshi reached up with both hands and covered his face, trying to rub away the sweat and anxiety, Byakuya just had his arms folded across his own chest, watching.

"Do you know what's posted on the front of the building, Haku?" This guy didn't know him well enough to go shortening his name. But instead of letting the guy have it with words, Hakudoshi just kept his face where it was, buried behind his palms.

"_Is it red?_" Because if it was then that meant he was talking about the-

"When were the notices issued?" Haku was gonna be sick... _again._

"_Today._" He opened the car door but didn't get out, Haku just swung his legs out and leaned over his knees. Some of the rain came down and hit the back of his head, but he didn't care. Damp, cold, hot, clammy, he wasn't feeling any better but the car was just too stuffy now for him to handle. He felt a heavy hand come down on his shoulder and squeeze a little, but the man behind him didn't say anything. He'd said he was a lawyer, wasn't he? And even if he wasn't apparently it was posted up on the front of their building so-

"Alright." Alright? What was alright? "I have to head back to work before my boss fires me, but I'll be back tonight." Tonight? Why? "Kagura asked for help. She didn't tell me anything, so I've got to assume that means everything." Hakudoshi wasn't really sure if the words he was using made sense, but the general idea still came across.

On the one hand, the teen had to quash the urge to tell the guy to mind his own business, that Kagura had only called him because she didn't have a car and it was raining. But he knew better than that, he knew not to say anything at all.

"C'mon, lets get you upstairs." Yeah... upstairs...

* * *

><p>"<em>Well, then what are your options?"<em>

Kanna woke up to a strange sound. A voice she didn't know.

"_I'm not taking over, I'm trying to help you figure this out."_

She had come home from school and found Hakudoshi already there, sick in bed with his door cracked. Kagura had been sick too, and Kanna had obediently brought the baby's crib into her room so he wouldn't catch the bug. It would only delay the inevitable though, in such a small apartment once one person got sick the rest of the family would catch it.

But Kanna didn't feel sick yet, so she'd boiled up a can of soup for her brother and mother, and made tea and stood over Hakudoshi's bed until he got uncomfortable and took the medicine she'd been holding. Kagura hadn't been as hard to take care of, her big brother could be a challenge sometimes, but their mother still needed to remember that sometimes she was still just their sister.

Her little brother was easier though, Kanna shooing Kagura back to bed when she saw her sister dumping all of the baby's toys into the bathtub with warm water and some bleach. It was still delaying the inevitable, but Kanna cleaned the toys and wiped off the books Kagura had touched when trying miserably to tidy up. She didn't know why neither one of her siblings wanted to speak at all, but decided they were just too sick and tired. Kagura called her boss so she wouldn't try climbing out of bed to work, but her conversation had been confusing.

Kagura told him she needed her vacation time. All of it. Kanna hadn't even known her sister had vacation and sick days, but that's what Kagura had used yesterday to get out of work and take them to the graveyard. She argued with her boss and called him names, something that made Kanna nervous because her sister usually bit her tongue whenever her bosses made her angry. But he relented and gave Kagura her two weeks.

Why would Kagura need two weeks to get over a cold? Kanna made her sister more tea and threatened to sit on her if she tried getting off the couch again. Kagura told her that they would be moving before the end of the month, and Kanna decided not to question her and went to play with the infant in her room. She put her baby brother to bed once he started yawning, Kanna reading on her bed and sketching a few pictures before she started to get tired. It was early for her to sleep on a Friday night, but she climbed into bed anyways.

"_Sit **down.** I've got a calculator right here."_

Kanna didn't know that voice. It was male but not one she recognized. She thought, briefly, of Kagura's ex-boyfriend but remembered that his voice was much, much deeper than the one she could hear now, drifting through the apartment. Kanna hadn't heard the intercom buzz or a knock on their door, but there was someone in the living room talking to Kagura, and Kanna didn't know who it was.

"_Well yeah, you make that much right now, but how long are you gonna be there for?"_

She crept out of bed quietly, moving patiently and only when she heard voices speaking- because if you moved when it was silent then there was no sound to cover your mistakes. The voices were not shouting and this was good, but Kagura was sick so Kanna couldn't hear her words properly, her nose too congested and her lips cracked and dry.

"_Yes, six years I know that. Do you expect to still be renting in six years? No- I'm asking why you aren't taking this seriously."_

Time and... money? Kanna didn't know why the person, the man, wanted to talk about money, but her door hadn't been latched and she was very slow as she opened it further. She could hear them better now.

"I asked for your help, not your damn bank account-"

"Trust me it's not that impressive, but if we add it together then-"

"_No_."

"Why not?" Actually, as she crept further down the hall, Kanna _did_ think that, maybe, she recognized this voice.

Someone had come by their apartment on Monday night, Kanna hadn't known who he was, but Kagura had and she'd put the chain on the door and yelled at him through the tiny space. He hadn't tried to force his way into the apartment, as far as Kanna knew he hadn't even touched the door, but Kagura had still sworn and made nasty comments. Hakudoshi had been at work and Kanna, not comfortable with shouting, had taken the infant into her room until the man went away.

She'd told Hakudoshi, but he hadn't been able to figure out who the man was either. At the graveyard he had asked her, and their sister had acted funny.

"Kagura."

"No!"

"Look at the numbers!" Now Kanna could see him, just the back and side of his head, but the man was in their apartment and he was sitting on the chair Kanna usually ate her dinner in: the old, uncomfortable wooden rocking chair that sat near Kagura's couch-bed. His hair was black, and he was wearing a suit- the colour was dark, she thought maybe a deep blue, but wasn't sure. "The best you're going to find with the money you make and the _things you need_ is another tiny, dirty place like this."

"I clean."

"Not that kind of dirty." Kanna just stayed where she was as they talked, the man pressing something that Kagura didn't seem to like, refining a point that Kanna couldn't see or just hadn't heard from her room. She was standing just far enough down the hall that, once she got a brief look at the man, she retreated so neither of them could see or hear her. Kanna knew how not to be seen, how not to be heard.

"Kagura, we can have a down-payment. We can _buy_ something."

"I'm a club dancer, they don't just give mortgages away to people like me." Mortgages? Buying?

"What's your credit like?" Kagura said she didn't have any, they lived off cash and bank transactions. "You pay your cell bill? On time?" Of course, always. "Then you have good credit, and so do I, and if we both have that _and_ a down-payment, _and_ you tell them your co-signer is a lawyer, _yes_, you can get a mortgage."

"And how do I afford that for twenty years?"

"I _help_ you for twenty years." Who was this man? Was he... proposing to Kagura? "Don't give me that look- this is why I came_ back_ to Japan in the first place!"

"_Bya..."_

"What option do you have other than to trust me with this?" Kanna let herself sink down onto the floor, crawling back over to the corner into the living room as she heard the man stand up- saw the back of the rocking chair swing in and out of view. Her sister coughed haggardly into what she hoped was a tissue, then the man spoke up again. "What are your options? How much longer can you do this?"

"I've handled a year."

"So you've got seventeen more to go, _at least._ Is your life seriously over already? You're just going to be a single club dancer who never has a night to herself?" Kanna... didn't like those words. It wasn't because they felt untrue but rather... because they _were_ true. She spent some weekends at Shiori's house, Kagura never told her not to go out unless someone was sick or she had homework to finish. Kagura had only stayed away for one night, and because of it she had broken up with her boyfriend...

Kagura didn't smile enough.

"Are you going to go back to school?" No. "So are you ever gonna make more money than what you are right now?" She could, but probably not, she didn't have a good rapport with her boss. "Well then are you going to get married?"

"_Bya!_"

"It's a serious question, Kagura! Are you looking for a husband, yes or no?" A husband? So was this man _not_ proposing to Kagura?

"And what? Just saddle some poor man with my problems? Are you insane I- I mean it..."

Kanna stood up, because there was a change in Kagura's voice and the younger girl didn't like it. Her sister was not well, she was tired and she was being badgered by someone Kanna did not know. Kagura was crying.

"Stop." The man gave a start as Kanna stepped into the living room, the girl not shy that she was wearing one of Hakudoshi's old black Thunder Brothers tee-shirts and a pair of white sweat-pants. The man had indigo eyes and his black hair had a wash of purple through the strands, but Kanna didn't care right now. "Kagura is sick, do not make her cry."

She should have taken something with her, maybe pulled her mirror off her wall. It was large and heavy, she could have threatened him to leave with it if he didn't co-operate right now. But maybe that would not be necessary, Kanna watched the man stare at her then look down at her sister again. Kagura was wiping her red eyes furiously with both hands, a tissue between her fingers as she coughed and groaned inside her pale, feverish body.

Kanna wanted him gone _now._

"This is Kanna?" The man asked, and Kagura just swallowed a throat-full of phlegm and nodded. "She's- sorry." Huh? He looked down at her again, still standing but also a little upset by the way his mouth was twisted. Kanna didn't want to know what he had to be upset about, he was making Kagura cry and her sister needed to sleep if she wanted to get better. "How old are you, Kanna?"

"Twelve." But that did not mean that she-

"Come, sit down." Kanna didn't move, not right away. She'd expected him to tell her to go back to bed like a child. Instead, it was Kagura who moaned something about her not being involved, but the man argued back; "I'd call Hakudoshi out if I didn't know the kid needed his rest more. And if I got off work at a decent hour I would've come tomorrow, not now." Who was this man? Kanna came into the living room and sat down next to Kagura, careful not to touch her sister's hands or pillow, she helped Kagura wrap her quilt around her shoulders and sat outside of it, away from the inevitable infection.

They had a low, rectangular coffee table in the living room, and Kanna looked down now and saw it covered with stacks and stacks of paper. There were numbers and yen symbols, dollar signs and percentage marks. There were at least three newspapers open on the floor, inserts pulled out and open showing pictures of houses and little boxes filled with renting information, or buying information.

Kagura had said they were moving by the end of the month, why were they looking at units already? Why was this man here?

"Do you know who I am, Kanna?" She stared at him without answering, watching the long-limbed man settle down into the rocking chair again, one elbow propped up on the wooden arm and a hand holding his face. Now he looked tired, Kanna wanted him to go home. "Your brother didn't know either."

"He's _my_ brother." Kagura supplied weakly, grabbing another tissue and holding it over her mouth and nose. Kanna looked at her sister, then back at the man. They looked nothing alike, and Kanna only had one older brother.

"Kagura is the eldest." She stated, watching him look considerate for a moment in _her_ chair before he answered.

"She has been, yes." No, that was not the right answer.

"Kagura takes care of us."

"Of course, and that wouldn't change. I'd just be here to help."

"_Why_ do you want to move in with us, Bya?" Kagura interrupted, whining and exhausted, tears leaking out of her red eyes that always came when she was too tired and frustrated. She wasn't sobbing though, she wasn't scared, Kanna wanted the man to go away but Kagura wasn't throwing him out. "Just cut the bullshit and-"

"Maybe this is important to me." The man interrupted Kagura, but his voice wasn't loud, and it didn't sound angry. "Maybe it's a nightmare I still have or something I just can't get over. Listen." He sat forward in the rocking chair and Kanna curled her hand through her sister's quilt-smothered arm, holding on to her as if she could stop the man from coming any closer. "We make the same amount of money and we work completely different hours. I'm not your boyfriend, Kagura, I'm not someone who has nothing to do with this and is just trying to butt in on your life."

"It sure feels like it-"

"He found us." There was force behind the words as Byakuya cut off Kagura's voice, making her go quiet as Kanna just listened and tried to understand what the statement meant. The two of them were staring straight into one another's eyes. Byakuya nodded at her. "Several times, actually. Naraku, he..." Then he dropped his eyes to the carpet, biting his lip the way Kagura always did when he was upset. "One time he sent a torn shirt that had been our mother's, she'd forgotten it. A couple of times we found pictures in the mail and it just... I burned them, I couldn't stand looking at them. Even after we finally left the country he always found a way to track us down."

Kanna looked at her sister and saw Kagura staring at the floor between the couch and the rocking chair. She leaned her head on her sister's shoulder and Kagura didn't respond right away, Kanna was too close to the infection but it was alright. She didn't know what was going on, but knew better than to ask right now when Kagura was sick and the man upset. She just didn't leave either.

"It's not just about you, Kagura. I know how to be selfish too."

"You're not gonna run away again." Kagura finally murmured, Kanna watching the man as he sat back on the chair and licked his thin lips slowly. "He gets out in six years."

"And I'll be here. I don't want to do this alone, little sister."

"No, not anymore..."

Quiet filled the room for a few more minutes after Kagura whispered the words, her red eyes drifting shut from the weight of the conversation and her illness. Kanna still wanted the man to leave, and when he stood up she watched him carefully, making sure he took his brief-case and the jacket she hadn't seen slung over the side of the rocking chair.

"Kanna." Why was he speaking to her? Kanna didn't want him to- "If she needs anything, give me a call here, okay?" He held out a slim business card with gold lettering on it. Kanna didn't want to take it, but once she had the thick paper in her hand she didn't want to let it go either. It would be her responsibility to call the number on the card if Kagura needed anything. "I'll be back tomorrow night, okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks." Kagura's voice was husky and tired, Kanna standing and following the man as he put on his shoes and left the apartment. He tried to smile at her but she wanted him to leave, not saying anything as she quickly closed the door once he was over the threshold. She put on the chain and twisted the deadbolt, then went back to make sure her sister was lying down to go to sleep.

"Kagura..."

"It's okay, Kanna." Kagura couldn't even keep her eyes open to say that, her hair tied in a messy ponytail behind her head, her neck and face all sweaty from her fever. "We'll be okay..." They'd be alright.

"Is he really your brother?"

"Mhmm... real bother, isn't he?" Yeah...

"Go to sleep."

"Nn..."

Kanna went back to bed.

* * *

><p><strong>Byabyabyabya~! Kanna can EASILY be just as scary and intimidating as anyone else in Kagura's life.<strong>

**"I will take this heavy mirror and I will beat you with it get out now before I beat you with this giant mirror."- Kanna.**


	27. Move! Move! Move!

**It's All Your Fault, Four Seasons.**

**Haha! Poor reviewers xD I mentioned cutting Bya last chapter and I guess I should explain that. I actually talked myself out of it just writing my giant note at the end of this chapter.**

**After today I will be dropping my Wednesday Updates because I'm running low on chapters. **

* * *

><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Move! Move! Move!

"_Na, Sesshoumaru, do you know a good realtor?"_

It was a bizarre question for Byakuya to ask him. Sesshoumaru just looked at where he'd placed his cell-phone open down on his new living room floor, the speaker function activated so he didn't have to waste what precious-little energy he had holding the device to his ear.

Moving was a wretched chore when you had to do most of the work yourself and only had one arm to do it with. Very, very little furniture had made the journey from his former condo into his new basement apartment. The couch he was laying on had been brought in by two men who had been cheaply hired and then kicked out of the house. A huge percentage of the condo's sale had gone straight into Tokijin's gaping mouth, there was no cash for hard labour.

"...Why?" The cell bill was paid out of necessity.

"_Because I'm moving and need a realtor?"_ Hmph.

"Are you at work?" It was an idiot question but Sesshoumaru let the words creep past his lips anyways. Asking if Byakuya was at work was like asking if the man was still breathing: he didn't have a choice in the matter. His mother's office would expect the man to come in for an average of ninety hours a week, and to be on-call for the other eighty-some odd ones. He also couldn't expect to be paid very well for it either. "Buying or renting?"

"_Buying, actually!"_ The other man sounded pleased. Hmph. "_But I need someone who can do their job quickly, like, four weeks or less."_ That was an insanely short amount of time to try making a purchase. Sesshoumaru almost said as much, but couldn't find the energy to lift himself up off the couch where his body had spent the last two hours. He just rested his good arm over his eyes again and considered what sort of insane responses real-estate offices had probably already given the lawyer. Less than a month?

"Toran Devas." She was the only realtor who could _possibly_ scrounge together more than a single showing in that amount of time. Real-estate was a profession that moved slowly for weeks and months at a time, and then deals were closed within seconds and money flashed through cyberspace before the paperwork was even _printed_, let alone read, explained, or signed. "Where are you getting the money to buy?"

"_Mother's life-insurance"_ Well, that was tasteless. _"Speaking of mothers, yours wanted me to check in and ask if you've selected a college or-"_

Sesshoumaru snapped his phone shut, cutting off his friend's yammering before he rolled over to go back to sleep on his couch.

Bastard.

* * *

><p>They had to be out on or before the 8th of January, because slum-lords don't believe in the spirit of Christmas and eviction notices only needed to be posted thirty days before E-Day. Kagura had to trust Byakuya with the beginnings of the search while she fought and struggled and battled her way through her cold, picking up missed homework for Hakudoshi and nursing Kanna once the little girl picked up the bug. Somehow the baby managed not to get sick until both of his siblings were well enough to get back to school for the end of semester, and Kagura just booked it around the city with the infant on her back until then.<p>

Byakuya was handling most of the money, but Kagura refused to just turn over everything to him. He worked merciless hours but showed up three nights in a row so they could go over numbers and he could explain banking practices to her, things she had no reason to know about. The kicker had been when they found out, after a conference call with the real-estate agent he'd found, that Bya really didn't know all that much about finance law on _this_ side of the Pacific.

Kagura _actually_ would have preferred to have her brother handle things at that point, because he was better than that Devas woman who snarked and chuckled condescendingly through the phone, but she couldn't. They were both inept.

So they had to trust this Toran woman not to screw them. Every time Kagura saw their realtor's number flash across her phone she had to crush the urge to dial Sesshoumaru's cell and demand he make sense of what the woman was saying. And considering how often Toran_ called_...

Damn Byakuya.

In America, Kaguya Kaze had taken out life insurance and accidental death insurance and about five other kinds of insurance things out of paranoia- she'd had every reason to doubt that she'd ever run far enough from Naraku. When progressive lung cancer came up on her x-rays some of the companies had jumped ship and refused to pay out, but the malignant disease had led her doctors to discourage Kaguya from chemo- it was that bad, and in more than one place in her body.

Kagura wasn't _happy_ that her mother was dead. She definitely didn't regret not being there when Kaguya breathed her last, the woman hadn't been anything to her in spirit, but her brother didn't like to discuss it. Kaguya _had_ been Byakuya's mother, so even if Kagura resented them both she still had to temper her disdain for his sake. Like it or not, he was helping her.

Byakuya had cashed in their mother's insurance policies to cover his student debts and finance his return to Japan after he graduated. He could have just stayed out of her life all together, not gotten it in his head that, as the eldest boy in their family, he should try fixing some of their parents' mistakes. He could have gone off to make buckets of money across the Pacific and never thought of returning east, but instead his career was now on firm hold.

Jumping from one legal system to another was an excellent way of screwing yourself. All the case work and precedent Byakuya understood from America was either inapplicable or just wrong, but the form and function- the bureaucracy, was close enough that he'd found a job as a legal aid _somewhere_ in the city. He hadn't told her where, Kagura didn't really care either. Apparently his hell-spawn boss was willing to let him learn the Japanese system through her though, helping him find his bearings and start to establish himself as a practitioner.

It was weird having someone turn his life upside-down for her sake, it's not like they'd been particularly close for all those years apart. Kagura couldn't think of a single letter, phone call, e-mail, or anything else that could have told her he was still alive after they left. Just _bam_, one day he shows up where she works and shakes the whole mess up.

But he had it in his head that this was what he wanted to do, and as much as Kagura tried to argue, the numbers were just too convincing. Money was always tight for her, and she didn't _always_ make her contribution to Hakudoshi's savings account like she'd promised to. She made an _okay_ amount of cash on her own, she'd be living comfortably if she wasn't supporting a family. Kagura actually made _more_ per-hour than Byakuya did, but he exceeded her because he basically slept curled up under his desk at work. Doubling their income was just _too tempting_... Even if it would mean sharing a living space with her estranged older brother.

Well, there were worse alternatives; ex-boyfriends and haunted family homes. Kagura kept herself busy trying to track their realtor across the city, too busy in the rain and wind to worry about a certain ex-boyfriend grabbing her hand and then failing to say anything.

Damn Sesshoumaru.

"_You aren't quitting, are you? Kagura-chan please reconsider I couldn't bear it if you-!"_

"Jakotsu I'm not _quitting!_ I just needed my time off, okay? I'll be back in time for Christmas, just don't let Inuyasha fire me while my back's turned."

"_Oh he wouldn't dare! Wouldn't **dare**, I say! The poor puppy's holed up in his office and can't so much as show his face without Abi or Yura hissing at him, you should have told us what they were doing!"_ Judging her and making a big fuss about something she didn't want to discuss. Fine, it was in the open now but Kagura was thankful that Jakotsu kept himself from asking any of his no-doubt bubbling questions. Siblings, not children, Kagura was supporting her _siblings,_ one of whom just happened to be a baby.

"Thanks, Jak, I'll call you later, okay? I'm headed someplace important." Managing a cell-phone, an umbrella and a stroller was a delicate balancing act that Kagura wasn't very good at, but her friend and co-worker just chirped merrily on the other end and they hung up a few seconds later. The infant garbled something under his plastic shield, sniffly but snoozing in the stroller after a carefully measured dose of medicine knocked him out for the bus-ride and jog to find the place they were meeting Toran today.

Kagura was thankful that she finally had a proper rain-jacket. Kanna had bought it with money from Hakudoshi, falling sick later that day for her trouble and demanding Kagura wear the lemon-yellow plastic even if it was shapeless and hideous. The elder sister complied, gloves on her hands now to protect them from the wind, her scarf around her neck to keep away any lingering chills from her fever.

"Well, Miss Kaze, what do you think of the location?"

Toran Devas was a short, slender woman several years older than Kagura. She had the same sort of mutation as Hakudoshi where her hair was almost white, but tinted blue instead of indigo, and it fell in sweeping waves around her face and shoulders. She always seemed to be smiling a little bit, ice-blue eyes from the continent looking down with an ounce or two of genuine human concern as she peered through the plastic at the stuffy-nosed infant.

It was probably part of being a professional- Byakuya and Sesshoumaru were the same way- but Toran always dressed well. Her jacket was long and came down almost to her ankles, a metallic blue belt wrapped around the smooth grey fall and cinching her waist. Sleek black pumps on her feet and a clip-board under one hand, she was holding a wide umbrella made for four over her head, diamonds (or something like) in her ears and a chain and pendant around her throat. She was standing on the drive-way of the property as Kagura came to a stop and started to catch her breath.

"Can't get... much closer... to the buses." She wasn't being sarcastic either, Kagura's lungs still didn't like being put to work, but the jog hadn't been more than two minutes to get in here. Here, being the town-house complex Toran had directed her to. Rows and blocks and courts of similar-styled, interconnected homes. They were all painted the same combination of pale taupe siding and darker brown trim, with low red fences that marked off private gardens and green spaces- none were very big, but Kagura was more interested in the insides.

"It's a family complex, about thirty years old but recently renovated..." Toran described the property as they headed indoors without bothering to look at the garden or outside, the realtor a very quick study who knew what Kagura was interested in after only two weeks (two very, very fast weeks) of running around and seeing homes.

No fixer-uppers, no necessary renovations, Kagura didn't care what colour the walls were or how the layout worked, she didn't care what the garden looked like or how many cars could fit in the garage. She wanted to know that the roof didn't leak and the walls weren't crumbling down, needed a working water-heater and electricity. She needed at least three bedrooms because there would be five people living inside: Kagura was fine staying in the living room, she didn't care what Byakuya or Kanna or Hakudoshi had to say about it. A fourth bedroom would be the baby's room.

So Kagura was, grudgingly, coming to trust the woman who led her in up to a small covered area next to the drive-way. She was starting to trust her because Toran had unwillingly taken Kagura to one property that she hadn't been sure of, but Kagura had been desperate and wanted to see anyways. The woman had pointed out marks on the walls that meant water-damage, and outside had spied cracks Kagura hadn't seen that meant foundation problems. Maybe it was just a ploy to _get_ Kagura to trust her, she didn't know, but it worked.

"_Usually, I just do commercial properties, so a lot of the paper-work will be done by someone else in my office."_ Toran had shared this tidbit back when they'd seen that house. _"But when I found out who recommended your brother, I took a special interest."_ Um, so who was this mystery reference? _"Oh, you know."_ Uh, no, she didn't? But Kagura had dropped the discussion then and hadn't felt the need to pick it back up since. Well, at least not a _compelling_ need.

Toran unlocked the red front door that was flanked by a dead flower bed and an empty pot that held the remains of someone's failed attempt at gardening. There was enough room for the stroller to get in along with the two women, Toran quick to show her the storage available in the tiny entry way for shoes and coats and everything else. Hoping not to wake the infant, the two women walked in, shoes brushed off but still on, into the living room.

"Are you sure my brother and I can afford this?" It was big, the space was nice. It wasn't as large as, say, Kikyo's house, but there was fresh white carpet on the floors that changed to tile in the kitchen- a breakfast bar looked into the living area from the cooking area. It was almost like their apartment, with those two rooms, but that changed as she allowed herself to be led over to the large sliding glass door.

"This is your green space, it's not a lot, but-" No, it was three step-stones and a rim of dead flower beds. But it was space. Kagura skulked out the kitchen for a few minutes, the appliances were included so she checked the oven, hiding her approval of the dish-washer. There was no dish-washer back in the apartment.

"An office?" From the front door and going left was the kitchen, but from the same starting place going right there was a short hallway that had two doors: an empty office or guest-room looking at Kagura with its white walls and white carpet, easily big enough for a better room.

"This property's only listed as a three bedroom, the office has no built in storage so isn't included." Huh, why would the seller do that? Or was that just the argument Toran would use if they agreed to buy the place? The other door led to a bathroom with a shower, then it was upstairs to three more bedrooms and a proper bath. "I've already brought Byakuya through here, he seemed to like it. Just needs _your_ approval."

"Does it have to be right away?" That felt reckless, Kagura couldn't help but pause as Toran's voice emphasized the last part, looking at the woman as they shut the door to the largest of the rooms, the master suite with its small attached powder room. Three bathrooms would take a lot longer to clean, but three bathrooms would make getting everyone ready in the morning _so much easier..._

"The sellers want to close as soon as possible, they're just waiting on offers right now." And it wasn't like Kagura had time to just wait around either... "If you put in a good number right now, and it's accepted, your family could start moving in by the end of the week." Which was when they needed to start getting out of their apartment anyways... "Why don't you give Bya a call? I'll just be downstairs." Near the infant, yeah, that would probably be best anyways. Kagura swallowed hard and nodded, watching the turquoise-haired woman drift away. She pulled her cell out of the gummy yellow plastic of her jacket and felt nervous.

"_Hey, what did you think of the place?"_ Kagura had to call her brother's work number, not his cell. Apparently his boss didn't like seeing him working through private matters on _her_ time. The fact that he sounded so casual either meant she was out of the office or in some sort of meeting.

"Are you sure we can afford something like this?"

"_Numbers don't lie."_ No, they didn't, but that was only if you knew how to ask the right questions. _"I've been pouring over it all day, neither of us will be spending too much more than we already are separately. There's a strata in place too for things like roofing problems and plumbing in case something big breaks."_ Because the units shared some stuff inside the walls, right? The structures were all connected. _"The area's pretty nice, there's a park nearby and at least two different buses stop at that corner."_ It was double her original budget, it was more space than she could manage to afford on her own, it was a great location it had all the amenities they needed, it-

"What happens if one of us can't pay?" She blurted the words out even though they'd already discussed this already. Byakuya didn't _sigh_ into the phone, but there was a pause before his voice, almost tense, a little frustrated, came through across the line.

"_This ties us at the hip. If one of us loses our job then we both have to figure out if we can manage to keep going or opt to sell. If we sell, cash gets split fifty-fifty, and we find some place else."_ We, he liked using words like that. We, us, our, together. It made her skin crawl but caught her ear at the same time, compelled her to listen and hear him out. _"Please trust me?"_

Trust.

Trust him.

Trust.

Damn him.

"...How much do I offer?"

"_You know how much we can afford, just make sure Miss Devas doesn't go over that."_

Right. Fine. Okay. She could do this. She could trust the realtor not to screw them over.

She could trust Byakuya.

* * *

><p>In a way, Kagura's blow-up at work against Kagome had been a good thing. At first she'd deeply, <em>deeply<em> regretted letting her temper run her mouth and spill about her siblings, but Kagura refused to feel bad about it. She also let her brother (the stupid one) be cheeky and talk her into something that seemed almost underhanded, but would probably benefit both her family and her co-workers.

She made them help her move.

She'd said she'd ask for help when she needed it, right? There was nothing like furniture and six flights of stairs to make you call in your big, strong, DJ co-worker and his pyro friend. Bankotsu and Byakuya both had cars, so Jakotsu and her brother were given driving duties shuttling off boxed plates, packed clothes, food-stuffs and memorabilia from the apartment to the townhouse. This left Kagura and Hakudoshi to help and supervise Bankotsu and Renkotsu as everything Kagura wanted to keep was dismantled and carted downstairs.

It was a Saturday, yeah, but Abi and Yura still showed up along with two other girls and took Kanna and the infant on ahead to the complex once Kagura gave them the address (and threatened to break Yura's pinky finger if she didn't leave Hakudoshi _alone_). She had no interest in how her living room was set-up, or who got what room, or where Kanna hung her pictures on the walls. She trusted her friends (Abi) to put linens in the linen closet and food in the fridge, and that the women (Abi) would make sure the baby was fed and kept safe as boxes were moved around. Hang blinds over the windows, put toilet paper in the bathroom, make sure there're garbage bags in all the little baskets; that was what Kagura was asking (Abi) for, and she paid for it with a take-out lunch and a lot (a lot) of hot coffee.

Boss was not invited.

Boss's brother was not discussed.

At least not right away.

Kagura knew Hakudoshi had betrayed her the moment he came back looking disgraced after carrying Kanna's dismantled bed down to Byakuya's car. Bankotsu had been a a giant grin pinched between massive headphones, silently laughing over Renkotsu where the technician had pulled something in his shoulder and was nursing it with ice next to her. Renkotsu had been helping pull Hakudoshi's bed-frame into more manageable pieces when the bald man's eyes went huge at Bankotsu, and then he, like her little brother, refused to make eye-contact.

"_Traitor._" Hakudoshi lifted a box of DVDs like it weighed nothing and escaped back down the building stairs. Kagura might have killed him if she hadn't already been waiting for one of her friends to make the connection about Sesshoumaru. He wasn't the sort of person to touch someone in public, even if it was just to make them stop shouting. And it wasn't normal for Kagura to blow sky-high in defence of someone she didn't know. The kid was just confirmation.

After the apartment was cleared out, emphasis shifted to carting a few boxes and a bed from Byakuya's flat. Her brother needed only a whopping two trips to empty his place of whatever he was bringing with him. Kagura was _mildly _jealous, but at least that meant the hardest part was done, and everyone could pile into the cars and get through the rain back to the townhouse. Moving day complete!

"Kagura! Kagura I want your sister!" Or not...

Kagura wasn't even out of the car when she saw Yura standing in the doorway of the townhouse. The brunet's eyes were wild and a huge grin on her painted red lips. At least Yura let her and Bankotsu (who was still grinning) get inside with Hakudoshi (who was still shame-faced) and Jakotsu (more grinning there).

"What are you talking about, Yura?" Tired and hoping her couch had been put down someplace where the sun wouldn't irritate her eyes, Kagura watched her catty friend flee further into the home to where Byakuya and Renkotsu had opened two cans of beer and were talking on the living room floor. Her brother seemed to be mixing well, Kagura mildly amused with the fact that the Tetseiga's pyro looked like he was drilling the lawyer for information. And not getting anywhere.

"Kagura!" Yura's shouting got the attention of both men on the floor, Kikyo's coffee table holding their drinks as they looked around and acknowledged her, then watched the screaming dancer come back into the room. "_Her. Hair. Is. Pure. White._"

"Yura let her go! She's not a doll!" Out of the office came Yura with Kanna's head held between her hands, the little girl walking on tip-toes to avoid having her head twisted off like a plastic cap. There were braids and ribbons and little bits all strung through Kanna's smooth locks, the girl not looking particularly bothered by the style, but uncomfortable in the woman's hold.

"_Please_ can I take her home with me, Kagura?"

"No! Now stop doing that to her head." Yura finally relented just as Abi came hopping down the stairs and hit her with a firm look.

"Where's your bed, Kagura?"

"Renkotsu's leaning on it." Kagura wondered if Renkotsu could have jerked upright any faster if she'd said the couch was made of raw meat. Probably not.

The next twenty minutes or so were filled with Kagura explaining that a two-bedroom flat couldn't hold three beds, and Hakudoshi finding the boxes destined for his room upstairs and carrying them up with Byakuya's help. Her brother (the older one) also had several heavy boxes full of law texts and ungainly books that needed to go up into the master suite: it was the only room with enough space for a bed, a desk, and a giant legal library. Not that they had a shelf or desks yet, but filling up the rooms would be a work-in-progress.

By the time four boxes of pizza arrived, the TV and electronics had been set up in the living room, Byakuya's coffee table replacing the old box that had held the screen back in Kagura's apartment. The kitchen had been straightened out too and Kanna, Hakudoshi, and Byakuya's bedframes had all been reassembled upstairs. Until Kagura got a bed and mattress for herself she'd be sleeping in the living room again on the couch, and the infant would stay with her. For the day however the one-year-old was kept in Abi's lap, the red-head bouncing and tickling the infant relentlessly, refusing to put him down even after the food got there and everyone was seated in a large circle on their living room floor.

"You really freaked us all out when you said you needed your vacation time right after that blow-up at work, Kagura." And here it came. Kagura just rolled her eyes at Yura's comment as she handed Kanna another can of soda from the open box at her side. There were a few chummy murmurs of agreement as she shrugged at the circle, ignoring her siblings who hadn't been told about Kagura's screaming match with Kagome.

"It was just one thing on top of another." She answered, brushing the concern off without going into details about the eviction. They all knew about it, even without Hakudoshi's poor secret-keeping abilities, Kanna had probably shared with someone over the course of the day. "I was sick anyways, and Inuyasha owed me after that stunt he pulled." Yeah, he was entitled to get more warning before she went and took her entire vacation all at once, but Kagura deserved to yank his chain a little for being such an ass.

"But having Sesshoumaru show up right in the middle must have made it even worse for you." Instead of looking at Jakotsu as he made the comment, Kagura set her ruby eyes on Hakudoshi. That's right, boy, you look down at your pepperoni crust in shame. Looking up at her friends again, there were five sets of eyes staring at her unabashedly, all waiting for her to confirm _again_ what her brother had already admitted.

Speaking of brothers, Byakuya looked positively stumped.

"Fine." Let it come. Licking a bit of grease off her thumb, Kagura leaned back on one of the moving boxes behind her. She was tired from her '_vacation'_ and, unlike her friends here, wouldn't be dancing tonight thanks to not having been to a single rehearsal in two weeks. They'd helped her move, so fine, she could give in and add to the gossip swirling around their ex-boss. "Whaddya wanna know?"

"Send them upstairs first!" Hakudoshi didn't need any convincing, but there was a stand-off between Kanna and Abi for the baby until the young girl relented and went to begin unpacking things in her room. Ren and Ban weren't as ravenous for information as Jakotsu and the women, but stayed put despite there still being pictures to hang and boxes of dishes to move.

Byakuya's owlish face was giving way as he became visibly uncomfortable, but he remained seated to her right even after their half-siblings had vanished. He was probably going to regret that decision later.

How many dates had she had with Sesshoumaru? (Like six?) Where had taken her? (All over the city.) Was his hair as soft as it looked? (Better, Yura.) Did he ever bring her gifts? (None she remembered.) What kind of flirt was he? (He didn't flirt.) Did he ever let her play with his hair? (No, Yura.) What about his arm- wasn't it all...? (Like a normal arm, just one he couldn't move.) What about combing or braiding or- (Yura!) Was he a good kisser? (Kagura just smiled.) How was the sex? (Err-)

Byakuya choked and gave in to a coughing fit, then excused himself to go upstairs.

* * *

><p><strong>I just realized that everyone in this chapter is a canonical villain...<strong>

**AND NOW: BYA!**

**Why I would cut him: TC suffers from a LOT of clutter, there're so many chapters and events that don't have to be here but that I wrote anyways because they were fun (31 and 32. Oh god, I love those chapters so much). Bya's a huge example of this, since his introduction and basic role actually extends (and complicates) Sess and Kagura's relationship. A lot of readers like a lot of instant gratification, or at least a very intense read where the main pairing is always in the fore-front of everything.**

**TC just meanders a lot, and some people really don't like that since it looks sloppy. It also makes it hard for this project to attract new readers since there's a LOT of content to sift through, and it'd be daunting to load a 40+ chapter story that has three sub-plots running around inside.**

**Why I won't cut him: To be fair, the meandering is why TC is labelled a Family/Drama story, not a Romance (I also couldn't pick three genres). I knew characters like Byakuya and Hakudoshi would be like "RAWR THAT'S MY SISTER NO TOUCHY", and develop their own sub-plots. Granted, Bya's is more for comic relief and Haku's is exploring the psychological side of things that Kagura doesn't pay attention to, but they're still sub-plots.**

**Plus, the flip side of the clutter issue is that if I get super bored writing the story, why would I keep writing it? I'm not getting paid for this crap: getting my business law straight is one thing, but cutting awesome characters just to give people a condensed romantic plot to swoon over isn't a very good bargain.**

**And now I just gush about Bya: I REALLY REALLY LOVE BYAKUYA. He's the whole reason why I DIDN'T just make Sessh come to the rescue: he's ridiculously fun to write, and he complements most of the characters around him. He's also amazingly complex regardless of if he's in an AU or a canon-compliant story, so I just love him to pieces. I've even heavily considered writing some more stuff (using this AU as a base) just for him. He just offers so much BALANCE to the story as well, and the more I write the more niches I find for him to fill. I love Bya~!**

**And I don't think I've had an AN this long in years. _Wow_...**

**So, if you read the CHAPTER, then please review. Bya-chan is safe for now.**


	28. Asshole

**Playlist~ U + Ur Hand, Raise Your Glass, Rhythm Nation, Nasty.**

**To Make Things Right will begin updating again starting on Wednesday August 31st, and only on Wednesdays. Taking Care will only be updated on Mondays and Fridays from now on.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Asshole

After only a month of living in an actual house with her family, and of putting up with her brother's return, Kagura had learned something very, very important: having an adult room-mate made life a thousand times easier. The fact that Byakuya had a car for them to use on the weekends just compounded this effect.

Of course, Kagura almost never saw her brother except on week-ends. He worked no less than twelve hours every week day, but usually it was closer to sixteen or eighteen. From a child-care standpoint nothing had actually changed: Kagura made breakfast for herself and the three kids, then Hakudoshi and Kanna left for school once winter break passed by, Kagura taking the infant to daycare when she left to make practice at the Tetseiga. Byakuya was always out of the house a good two hours before Kagura's alarm ever _considered_ going off.

So their afternoons weren't much different either, with Kanna, then Haku, then Kagura with the baby coming home at times that varied but always fell within the same two hours. After that, Kagura would make dinner and everybody got their homework done, exactly like it'd been in the apartment. What changed was that at eight the TV didn't have to go off because the spare room on the first floor was now Kagura's bedroom, and it was where the infant's cradle went.

Now they could actually watch movies in the evening, or news, or sports, or even dramas like _'Feudal Fairy Tale'_ which Kanna and Kagura were steadily becoming addicted to.

Another minor change was that Kagura also made one extra portion of food when she cooked at night. Depending on whether or not her brother called before a certain time, she either packed Bya's dinner up in a container for him to take for lunch the next day, or she left it out for him to eat when he dragged himself in the door. It was that simple. If he wasn't home by the time the infant went to sleep, she packed it.

Of them all, it was surprising how after Kagura got over most of the creepiness, the one having the hardest time adjusting to Byakuya's presence was Kanna. She would have bet anything it would have been Hakudoshi's skin crawling, but the teen seemed surprisingly docile around their older brother. The uncomfortable one was Kanna.

The girl didn't like seeing him hold the baby, usually taking the infant away from Byakuya on weekends when he was actually home and not sleeping or reading case-work. She wouldn't let him see her art or look at anything in the sketchbook she kept under her arm most hours of the day. And how _dare _he try helping her with homework? Whenever Kagura asked Kanna to put away the left-overs for him, her sister always found the most complicated, difficult-to-reach spot in the fridge (usually way in the back and under several other items) to put it in so their brother couldn't find it in the morning.

Kagura couldn't imagine how cold her sister must have been on the nights when it was just Bya and the kids, but Kanna would just have to suffer with it. The fact that she knew there was another adult in the house (or that he'd be there eventually) made it a lot easier for Kagura to get out the door at seven so she could be at Tetseiga by eight on work nights. So much easier. Byakuya would know what to do if something bad happened, or at least he was old and professional enough that he'd be able to call and deal with other people who wouldn't give him the same stupid looks she knew Hakudoshi got whenever he went to pick up the infant from daycare for her.

But there was no pleasing Kanna, at least not right away. According to Hakudoshi she'd apparently just hide in her room as soon as Kagura finished giving the infant his bath and was out the door for her performances. She was actually starting to get a bit irritated with the girl, but her phantom-brother was eerily perceptive of some things.

"Well, who was the last tall, dark-haired, pale-skinned man to live around her?" Ergh, he had a point when he said that. Things had been so crazy at the club and getting home that Kagura had actually arrived in time to catch Byakuya still muddling around in the kitchen with his breakfast one morning. It was a Monday, go figure, and his toast smelled good so she made herself a slice and ate it in the kitchen with him, the two of them having a quiet discussion.

"You act nothing like that dirt-bag though," She pointed out, watching him mind the clock and try desperately to figure out where Kanna had hidden his lunch in the fridge. "I don't think I've seen you lose your temper once yet." Although he looked pretty stupid on his knees like that, head and shoulders lost behind the crisper drawer and tucked under the shelves.

"It happens, but... Mom had a bad temper too, so if things are gonna end badly anyways then there's no point in- _aha!_" There was a rattling of glass jars and plastic containers, until finally her brother withdrew himself from the chilly interior of the fridge with a small package of left-over yakisoba. His grin was goofy and triumphant, but just seemed to reinforce his next point. "There, see? No need to yell. I do other stuff." Other stuff? "Eh... I fold paper?"

"You mean like origami?" Her brother nodded, then gave a shrug as he nudged the fridge closed with his knee, swallowing a mouthful of coffee as he got his briefcase open and tossed his lunch inside.

"My desk is full of little paper cranes and lotus blossoms, I found it more effective than punching walls when I was younger." Hm, speaking of which...

"Hakudoshi needs something..." Her brother shared a frown with her. Kanna drew and sketched and painted, Kagura danced and was improving her cooking, Bya had his studies and paper birds. Hakudoshi needed something other than work and school.

"He'll figure something out, maybe I can get him to change the oil in my car or something."

"Oh, you'd let him touch your precious car?" She teased, but Bya didn't seem to get the joke, and just gave her a quizzing look.

"Cars really aren't my thing..." Oh, well that had been a stupid assumption on her part anyways... "A friend of mine seems to know a lot about them though, he used to drive some really nice models." Kagura snorted and folded the last bit of her toast over itself, watching the butter move through the cracks.

"Yeah, my ex was into cars." Not that she discussed that sort of thing with her _brother_, but it was worth saying even if he did visibly flinch at the comment. Just because Sesshoumaru had resented the fact that his car changed gears on its own, and hated that the engine only had blahblahblah output with this-and-that feature, didn't mean all guys were like that.

"Alright, I'm outta here." Not that she knew why he had to get in before six, but whatever. Kagura said good-bye to her brother and informed him briefly of her plans for the evening, which he was cool with. After he was gone, Kagura found her way to the downstairs bath to clean up and go to bed.

She had, stupidly, given in to Yura and Abi's demands, and was going to go dancing with them later that evening. Because apparently Kagura needed to get out more, and cover was half off at the Tokijin on Mondays.

* * *

><p>About a month ago, Sesshoumaru received a long-in-coming phone-call from someone he had been tentatively considering a friend. Blessedly, Byakuya had displayed the tact and straightforwardness that made a good lawyer and a tolerable acquaintance.<p>

"_Why the **hell**_ _didn't you tell me?"_ He was also, all things considered, quite polite given his circumstances and demands.

"So you finally figured it out?" There were really only so few things Sesshoumaru would have any reason to keep secret, and only one of those applied to Byakuya.

"_Yes, I finally figured it out. Do you want to know **how** I figured it out? I think it was when my sister's friends started asking her **what kind of kisser you are**."_ Sesshoumaru couldn't formulate a response to that, and mutely held the phone to his ear waiting for whatever else Byakuya had to say. The silence just made it worse though, Kagura's only friends worked with her at the Tetseiaga...

The results were horrifying to consider.

"_Why did you help me?"_ Hmph. A complex question. _"I mean sure, vindictive ex-boyfriend and all that after you found out she hated me, but why get involved at the start?"_ Sesshoumaru considered his response carefully, and at the last moment before he spoke, he went with the truth.

"If I had known she hated you, I wouldn't have let you find her in the first place." And, given his mood that day, probably slammed the lawyer into the wall a few times for good measure.

"_Uh, and after you knew..?"_

"Vindictive ex-boyfriend."

"_Huh_."

And that, shockingly enough, had been the extent of Byakuya's frustrations with him as Kagura's ex-boyfriend. With that hurtle overcome the two of them were now, essentially, friends.

Unfortunately, Byakuya made for a shitty friend sometimes. Over the next month Sesshoumaru was refused every single advance when it came to getting information on Kagura. Now that Byakuya knew who he was and how he'd been involved in her life, the lawyer tucked his sister into a neat little envelope, sealed it, and proceeded to relentlessly dangle whatever he knew about her roughly two inches shy of Sesshoumaru's grasp.

When they had been together, Kagura had never behaved like a tease with him. She'd never taunted him or hinted at what he wasn't enjoying beyond their dates and conversations.

Her brother was the exact opposite. He would call Sesshoumaru _intentionally_ to bring Kagura up, or drop her name in a conversation that she had nothing to do with. He would lead into stories and then abandon the tale once she factored into it in some way- like if she'd been in the same room, or also knew the other person involved. It was relentless and tiring and took all of Sesshoumaru's patience not to either throttle the man or simply stand up and demand a clear, concise summary of what was going on in her life.

Byakuya was unforgivable when it came to gossip. Sesshoumaru did not make a _habit _of discussing the affairs of others, nor was he usually interested in such things beyond what he could gain from them, but the lawyer had a completely different philosophy. When Kagura had been a stranger then her brother hadn't minded discussing her with his friend, but now that the dirty truth was out Byakuya was set that if Sesshoumaru wanted to know about her, then he would have to go and _ask_ _her_ himself.

And no, he did _not_ need Byakuya to give him her number. And those were the words that ended their most recent phone conversation in January- or at least they would have been if Bya hadn't off-handedly added something else in a sigh.

"_Well maybe it's for the best, she's going out dancing tonight with her friends anyways."_

"What?" Answer. Answer him or so help him Sesshoumaru would punch his hand straight through the phone line. Sesshoumaru was sitting behind his desk at the Tokijin, pretending the numbers in front of him were better than they actually were- but at least there were some positives mixed in there now. Not enough, but some.

"_Yeah, she told me before I left for work today. Girls night or something, she deserves to have a little fun every now and then."_ It was a Monday. There were all sorts of low-class clubs around the city that would be open tonight, Sesshoumaru'd know: he owned one of them. The temptation to reach through the phone and strangle Byakuya was overwhelming as he heard the lawyer give a dry laugh on the other end of the line. _"You know I can hear it when you breathe like that._"

"Where are they going?"He felt stupid for asking, both because it was senseless for him, Kagura's ex, to follow her movements like this, but also because he already knew what her brother was going to say.

"_Not sure, probably some place Abi and Yura like, you should call her and-"_

Click.

Hang-up.

Asshole.

* * *

><p>The rule was simple: no guys.<p>

Not even Jakotsu got to come, it was just Kagura, Yura, Abi, along with Hari and Ruri who worked behind the bar with Jak. Kagura had patched up with their boss's fiancee already, Kagome had apologized to her and blahblahblah. But she didn't come: the boss's girlfriend had a _normal_ job, so clubbing on a Monday was out of the question. Kagome was also_ way_ too pure to take to Tokijin.

The five- four? of them showed up outside the club at nine, standing around until nine-thirty in mini-skirts and cute boots waiting for Yura to finish getting hopelessly lost trying to find the place. Kagura had had to go digging through the very bottom of her closet to find her old party outfits from back before they'd moved out of Kikyo's house, but thankfully hadn't had to spend any money getting ready: a short black skirt and a graphic tee that had the neck hem ripped out so it fell off her shoulder. It was a simple, plain the sort of thing you danced in that didn't scream for too much attention.

This was all good, because the rule was no guys and Kagura wasn't going to be spending cash on booze either. Go home smelling like alcohol? Hell no. Besides, drinking herself into a stupor and suffering hang-overs had lost its appeal after high school.

"_This_ is what you pick for ladies night, Abi?" It was a stone's throw from Kagura's old apartment, which was kinda creepy if she thought about it, given the kind of crowd hanging out waiting for the doors to open and subjecting themselves to a check as they filtered in. Tokijin was a red and black pillar standing in the middle of a shabby looking street. It must have had a basement or something, because even the pavement was thrumming with the bass pulsing through the structure. Did Tetseiga get that loud?

It wasn't until they were already inside that Kagura noticed nobody'd bothered to ID her. The five of them went laughing to check in their coats and get on the dance-floor, Abi detouring with Yura by the bar and picking up a shot each.

The odd number suited Kagura great, because after four songs her friends would pair off for trips to the bar, Kagura only approaching when the need for water or something carbonated and sweet struck her. The bartender was a heavily tattooed guy with a lizard-like smile and purple skin under the black lights, but when she flashed money and put on a bitchy attitude he stopped screwing around and gave her the tame drink she ordered.

Dancing on stage and jumping on the floor were two totally different experiences. When you were dancing to a routine you felt the energy of the room channel through you, stealing your limbs and playing with each sensitive nerve until you weren't really in control anymore. You became a puppet on electric strings obeying the current of the music and the vibe of the crowd. The lights followed you, distinct beams of goldenrod, key-lime and aquamarine roaming over a writhing sea of limbs and hair. You felt the beams overhead focus down on you, controlled by your movement as much as you were captured in their white eyes.

When you were _in_ the crowd, you got the burrow in deep under the waves of sound, lost in the flashing lights and able to both embrace and ignore the sticky alcohol spilt over the smooth floor. You could smell the other people and see the gold perspiration on their blue upper lip, watch the way their flashing clothes pulled on their bodies and their green limbs rippled and waved in the red chaos. You still got that jolt of the current, but it was sudden and ripped through you rather than take hold and make you a figure for presentation. Your legs weren't bound by routine and you didn't know what the music would do next- you just went with it and let it scream through you.

And when you heard a song you knew, you could count on your four girlfriends to make a square for you so you could strut some of those steps from work, pop your hips and snap your neck, twist and bend like a whirlwind trapped inside electric flesh. Yura knew how to do little things with her fingers and ankles that made her entire form look like a weave of fabric rippling in the movement of the crowd, and Abi's whole body came alive and set itself on fire with her cascading red locks- her skin painted black and yellow by the strobe lights.

So when a pair of heavy, masculine hands wrapped around Ruri's hips and travelled down their friend's outraged thighs, Kagura didn't have to worry about the petite girl dealing with it on her own. When a firm stop to her dancing didn't send the message across, Kagura's heel scuffing the guy's calf did the trick: back off. They didn't even get a look at his face, the five of them just breaking into laughter that you could see and feel, but the sound of it was just snatched up by the rippling air and diffused into the thick light.

You can't talk in a club, not on the floor, Kagura communicated "Okay _fine!_ One drink!" with hand-signals and facial expressions, a swish and dip of Yura's hips calling her chicken until she relented. Abi's steps were light and tricky in her scandalous red heels as Kagura was led off the dance-floor and escorted to the same bar as before.

The worst part about leaving the floor though was how, when you weren't drunk or at least tipsy, the gross, dirty nature of the place jumped out at you once the music stopped playing basketball with your heart. The walls were black, marked with little half-moons where glasses had hit them and bit into the white plaster. The neon paint in places was messy-looking without being street, the floors dirtier than a club should be: there was dirt piled up in every corner from lazy cleaning, or just no cleaning, broken glass hidden under chairs and rips cut into the seating. There was pot smoke either clinging to the clientele or being actively had on site, the bouncers blatantly ignoring the plastered women going too far with guys in the corner or tucked out of sight near a closet or back way.

Damn, this place was nasty, but Kagura just grinned and laughed at it because she didn't give a fuck: she was having a night out with her friends, simple as that!

"_What's wrong? Why's your face like that?_" Abi had to shout at the top of her lungs as Kagura coughed and let her eyes water, carefully dabbing at her mascara and chewing her lime rind until it looked more like gum.

"_I haven't had tequila since high school!_" She managed, finally getting over the burn of the shot and laughing at Yura's stupid face.

"_You can't drink in high school!_"

"_**I** did!_" Cue cat calls and wild laughter, anything to piss off Naraku had been her forte for years. A string of 80s techno and steel-drums came wheeling through the speakers and Kagura let her hips and feet carry her back and forth in a line; '_on edge'_ as it were and getting her friends to follow her steps. Why not throw in something from _'work'_? The three of them went for it for almost a solid thirty seconds before Abi lost it and started laughing, Kagura pointing at the bar and miming through her laughter that she wanted another soda for herself. Her friends winked and danced their laughing way back to the corner of the floor Hari and Ruri were defending.

"_Lime and soda!_" Kagura had brought just enough money that she could get a couple drinks and still have money for the cab home. The lizard-faced bartender mixed up the tame concoction while Kagura fingered the yen notes in her hand- then another hand with noticeably _more_ money flashed down in front of her.

"_And a shot of tequila for her._" Huh? A nose worked its way against her ear and hot breath feathered down her neck and over her shoulder. "_Your ass is so sexy!_" Oh. Charming. Kagura waved her hand at lizard-mouth and cancelled the tequila, holding out the few hundred yen for her drink as she slid down the bar a little to get some distance. She almost scream and she _did_ jump when a firm hand went sliding down the small of her back and wrapped its fingers around her backside.

"_Fuck you!_" Turning, Kagura got a face-full of sour breath pouring from what was probably, when he was sober, a nice smile. Somewhere in there the money was taken from her hand and Kagura wasn't sure where her change was, but she had her drink and someone way too close to her to worry about instead. What was two-hundred yen?

The guy had blond hair- a bad dye job and a strange sight, especially under the black-lights that turned the flaxen strands a bright purple colour. It was all brushed back high over his head and down his neck like a mullet, an unattractive cut. He had a heavy, wide-set jaw and a pair of lips he was trying to shove into her face. Kagura got a hand up and pushed back on his wide chest, the ugly oriental mustache tails coming out of his cheeks twitching as he ignored her obvious rebuttal. What the hell was he wearing? Just a white tee and an open blue shirt over that, ripped jeans and ugly shoes. His bloodshot red eyes had that absent look of someone who was either totally hammered or had mixed something with his drinks.

At eleven, Kagura couldn't think of someone getting _this_ plastered _that_ fast unless they'd started early and went fast.

"_Lemme buy you a drink._"

"_No._" Kagura gave another firm shove and got him to back up a step or two, his pupils fully dilated in the black-lights and flickering noise. But he was smiling and that was never a good thing, Kagura making sure her lips were _not_ smiling as she bared her teeth at him and stepped away from the bar. The guy serving drinks wasn't doing anything to help so she wasn't gonna get stuck between this guy and a plastic wall. His grin just did something creepy and wrong when he saw her trying to get away.

"_I got cash, we can just head out back and-_" And _what?_

Kagura's arm moved and she felt a stab of satisfaction as the contents of her glass leapt up and slapped him in the face: bubbling water and cold ice delivering a sharp sting that sent him reeling. Kagura turned sharply on her heel and stormed off to find her friends- she could see Yura and Hari both on the war-path to come and rescue her, the satisfaction in her chest rising higher. Ass-hole, who the hell did he think he-?

Hari's face changed and Kagura felt the bottom drop out of her stomach- her friend breaking into a run as Kagura's senses told her to do the same thing. But then Yura's face of rage was eclipsed by something else, Hari catching herself once the three of them met up and Kagura could turn around.

It was loud in the club, you couldn't hear someone who was more than six inches from your face. So Kagura couldn't hear what her pursuer was saying, she could just see the back of the man who'd stepped into his line of sight and blocked what Kagura assumed- judging by the clenched fists the drunk one was brandishing- had been a go at her back. Whatever the drunk was trying to get across wasn't working for Sesshoumaru though, two men in Tokijin's red and black working their way through the crowd- bouncers.

_'Why the hell is he here?_' Even without seeing his face, she knew it was him, but she didn't get it. This was _not_ the sort of place where Sesshoumaru would be caught _dead._ Why was he here and how the hell was he the one taking the control of the situation? Kagura just stared and waved a hand at Hari, telling her to shut up for a minute and that she'd answer her questions later.

Sesshoumaru made a single gesture with his hand, something Kagura had to assume was a warning for the drunk not to touch him. When the white-haired patron lunged she shouted something in the noise that nobody heard, then watched her ex's fist come down on the side of his attacker's head and kill his momentum. The man hit the floor and _then_ the bouncers finally moved, the two men hoisting the drunk one up, stopping when Sesshoumaru changed his stance to face one in particular and deal some sort of order.

Kagura didn't watch them leave, her eyes glued to Sesshoumaru's back as he turned a little, still keeping his back to her, then looked over his shoulder at her. And he was definitely looking _for_ her too, because she saw his eyes skip over Yura and Hari before finding and settling on her. She didn't know what to do. It was too dark and the air too full of smoke and light for her to really know what sort of look was on his face. She didn't know if his yellow eyes had anything to say as his silver hair went indigo and lavender under the black-lights. But he looked at her, her eyes stuck on his until Kagura found herself abruptly staring at the floor.

Why did she look away? By the time she brought her gaze back up he wasn't looking anymore, in fact he just started walking off around the bar and vanished around a bend of chairs and half-walls.

_'Did he just step in because that guy was drunk..?' _She thought it and then saw a couple that looked just as heavily smashed make their weak-kneed way over to the bar from the same direction down which he'd vanished. _'Did it he do it because it was me?_' What the hell made her think he even _recognized_ her in this place?

She wanted to follow but stayed where she was, it was girl's night, she couldn't just-

"_What are you doing!"_ Kagura turned when she felt Yura's hand on her shoulder, her friend's eyes wide and hand pointing straight in the direction he'd gone. "_Go! Follow! If you don't then I will!_"

"_He just walked off! That's so rude!"_ Hari was pushing her now, little nudges and shoves behind her back. _"Go give him a piece of your mind!_" That was code for... something else. Something... Kagura was gonna do. She nodded to her friends and, yeah, she followed him.

Kagura _would_ give him a piece of her mind. Asshole!

* * *

><p><strong>Whee~<strong>


	29. Broken Secrets

**God I love Pink. **

**Raise your glass!, Who Knew, Don't Leave Me, U + Ur Hand, and basically anything else that woman sings.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Broken Secrets

He'd seen her. Sesshoumaru hadn't meant to do it, but he'd spent all night standing at the large window in his office. All night, for hours he'd done nothing but look down on the dance-floor and main bar. And he'd seen her.

He always stood there anyways, it was the only place from which he could make sure nothing _terribly_ illegal or unsavoury was happening in his building. The problem was that tonight it had been stupid and different and it had been different for stupid reasons. He'd been _looking_ for her, and that just wasn't healthy.

It was not healthy for him to stand there in his office from the time the doors opened until he actually _saw_ her, looking for a girl with black hair in a _Tokyo bar_. It was not healthy for Sesshoumaru to stand there and look for his ex-girlfriend, the woman with which he hadn't properly spoken to since _before_ breaking up with her months ago. It was not healthy. There was something _wrong_ with him when he had to keep trying to pump his friend for information he had no business needing. It wasn't right for him to stand there like that in the off-chance that his ex-girlfriend would unwittingly show up on his dance floor with his incompetent staff around her.

And then it happened. And Kagura was there.

_'I will not become a stalker, I am a better man than that.'_ Sesshoumaru had a lot of problems in his life, but he was a _better_ man than this. If he couldn't make himself speak to her then he had no right to keep an eye on Kagura's life, or her friends as he watched the party of five repeatedly break up and come back together as they made repeated trips to the bar. True to form, his ex had remained completely dry- something Sesshoumaru cursed himself for looking into when he pulled up the live-feed from the bar's till and saw the virgin drinks she ordered.

He shouldn't have cared, it shouldn't have been important, it wasn't something he should be looking into, it just wasn't...

And then he saw trouble. He saw an exchange that made his blood heat up and something like jealousy- but he shouldn't be jealous, there was no _reason_ for Sesshoumaru to be jealous! -but something like it started moving through his veins. He told himself he wouldn't have left his office if he hadn't seen Kagura push the man away, he told himself that he only moved so quickly down from the second floor because he knew Goshinki wouldn't do his job and stop a rowdy patron in front of the bar. Sesshoumaru told himself whatever was necessary to keep his temper under control as he moved deftly through the crowd. He got there just in time to see the man accosting his ex go after her back.

_No._

"That's enough." It didn't matter if the other man heard him or not, Sesshoumaru put himself directly in the drunk's path and could smell the alcohol on his breath, saw the flush on his face and the warped look in his eyes that signalled a popular drug combination. It made his skin crawl and hackles rise to know that _that_ sort of activity was still going on under his roof: his floor manager had no idea how to do his job. Bloodshot red eyes came up and the man bared his teeth like an animal, but when he tried to side-step around him Sesshoumaru's hand came out and he moved again to block the advance. There were rules about touching, and they were ones he knew how to follow: even Tetseiga had suffered its drunks and wild-cards. "_Enough_."

"Don't you fucking touch me! Do you have any idea who the hell I am?" A filthy drug-induced slob who Sesshoumaru wasn't going to tolerate having around. "I'm Rengokuki, I fucking _own_ this side of town!" Then he wouldn't have a problem finding someplace _else _to spend the night.

The string of profanity that followed was not worth repeating, but Sesshoumaru still felt his temper flash before the man in front of him dropped his shoulders and lunged to tackle him.

_Idiot._

You didn't get into the night-life business without knowing how to physically handle your own. Being down one arm was no excuse for Sesshoumaru not to know how to defend himself. Drunks were irrational, they attacked in the most blunt and obvious manner. You couldn't pound them in the chest or shoulder, or try to get into their head: an angry drunk wouldn't feel pain if you hit them. But they couldn't keep their balance either if you threw them off, and that was rarely hard to do as long as you stayed calm.

Sesshoumaru had three choices: he could physically trip the man, he could draw the taser at his belt, but before he ever got there he'd already decided he felt like using his fist instead. There was just so much more satisfaction in having his hand smart from a blow to the temple than in pressing the little button on the _Souryuuha_ _Co._ electroshock weapon. And it was more direct than dancing around an idiot who wasn't worth building up a sweat over.

Two of his bouncers, both hopelessly late on the scene, were given the task of throwing out the dead-beat, Sesshoumaru stopping one of them with a look and giving a very serious warning in a low voice.

"Tell Moryomaru that if I have to clean up one more mess on the floor tonight, he'd better look for another job." Because he was sick of this, because Sesshoumaru was so _fed up_ with this being his life and becoming his reputation. It was disgraceful.

He didn't even know what Kagura would think of it, convinced she wouldn't even be there when he looked around and-

She was still there.

She was staring at him.

She was standing in a huddle of women Sesshoumaru knew, people he'd hired to work at the Tetseiga before it had passed to Inuyasha. They were women who knew him and who were staring with wide eyes- Yura's jaw was slack and Hari had a hand up over her mouth. When Kagura dropped her eyes he wasn't sure what that meant, it didn't hurt, he just didn't know what it was supposed to say.

Maybe it said nothing at all.

Sesshoumaru went back to his office. He wasn't going to make small-talk here, not in this noise and surrounded by the smell of illegal sex and spilled alcohol. How the hell could he even claim this place as his living, his sole source of income? How had he gone from Tetseiga to Tokijin? It was _disgusting._

Most places got by with a velvet rope to keep people from wandering where they weren't supposed to go, but that didn't work in the Tokijin. What looked like a section of a metal fence (probably because it _was_ an old length of chain-link) with a matching door was bolted to the walls and ceiling, cutting off the gangway that led up along the wall to his second-floor office. A bouncer who was only a little less incompetent than the men outside stood guard to make sure no idiots tried to climb the fencing, and swung the metal gate open so Sesshoumaru could pass through unhindered. He heard it rattle shut and continued taking long strides to get away from the pulsating sound. He needed to get away from the noise.

He was just reaching for the key to let him back inside the office when he felt his cell begin to jump and rock in his pocket. Sesshoumaru pulled the device out instead and checked the name in the dim light.

Kagura? It was eerie, seeing her name where he'd been hoping it would be for weeks. But she was calling him from inside the club, there was no way either of them could talk in here. Calling him meant-

Opening the phone to pick up the call, Sesshoumaru turned and went back down the gangway. He didn't hold the cell to his ear because there was no point. Sure enough, Kagura was standing outside the fence and door, her phone held the same way by her hip as she looked up and saw him through the chain links.

"Let her in." He had to repeat himself because the man on the other side of the door didn't understand him, Sesshoumaru opening the gate himself because it wasn't worth the effort to explain. Kagura had shut her phone and stood there with her arms folded, lips pursed watching the futile exchange before she moved awkwardly through the barrier to him.

"You hired _him?_" In the flashing lights and the loud noise there was almost no sensation except for sight, Kagura's hair pulled up high behind her head as she headed awkwardly up the gangway- there wasn't enough room for them to walk next to one another.

"I hired Jakotsu too." Sesshoumaru didn't know where the words came from, half-deaf as he was it was hard enough to hear her comment, but he answered as if there was no reason not to. He watched Kagura rub the back of her neck before they reached the wide platform that led to his office, Sesshoumaru drawing the key out and working the stiff lock open.

One of the few full renovations to take place before Tokijin was unexpectedly opened was the sound-proofing in his office. The windowed booth was protected from the extreme sounds of the club, the base still pounding through the floors and walls, but the actual volume was locked out. Kagura didn't turn to look at him as they moved inside the dim space, but he saw her pause once he closed the door, her ears no-doubt ringing from the sudden drop in noise. There were red and blue lights on in the ceiling for light, it was for their eyes: red light didn't cause pupils to dilate, he could look from his work to the club floor without needing five minutes for his eyes to adjust. White light was used during the day, not during club hours.

Silence was awkward after the blaring noise downstairs. Sesshoumaru just went straight to his desk and checked his phone again, wiping his thumb over the screen like it would do something to the display. He glanced behind him and saw Kagura looking out the office window, down at the pulsating dance floor. Looking back down he pulled out the earplugs that were necessary for him wear, too many nights spent continuously in the extreme noise would kill his ears before he was thirty.

They weren't saying anything, but this could not happen a second time. She'd followed him this time, it wasn't him pursuing her again. There had to be a reason for that, didn't there? And it had to mean that Kagura was the one who had to try and say something first this time, but things weren't working that way. The silence just kept growing. Not again. There had to be something to say, something he could manage without losing face. Something. Anything. Say it.

If she walked away again, would that really be better than refusing to speak first?

"Did Tetseiga ever look like this?" A different set of words had been forming in his throat, but Kagura spoke first and changed things. He didn't know what he was doing at his desk, but it wasn't productive and he still couldn't turn around. "When it started out?"

"No." An honest answer. "It was nothing like this." Tetseiga had never been filthy on the inside, the staff had been incompetent until they were properly trained and their boss had learned how to actually run the place. It had taken time to establish a frame-work, but there had been time and money to invest into making things work. Effort had been put into getting the right people into the right places so they could do their jobs with minimal conflicts and chaos.

Tokijin still lacked money, was wasting time, and none of the staff trusted or worked well enough to begin pulling together yet. Kaijinbo had been left alone and caused too much damage while Sesshoumaru was down after his accident. Staff loyalties had been to that snake, not Sesshoumaru, and every time he tried to purge the cancer the bitterness just infected a new generation of staff. He couldn't fire _everyone_ and remain open the seven nights a week he still needed to keep the place afloat.

"Thanks..." She sounded nervous, uncomfortable. Sesshoumaru tossed his phone down onto the desk since there was no point in continuing to hold onto it. He pulled his hand back until it was resting on his waist, elbow back as he tried to think. "...for getting rid of that guy. He was pretty-"

"-typical." He cut in, hating the sound of their voices discussing the club around them. He didn't want to talk about this, he didn't want it, but as Sesshoumaru forced his words to form this all felt like something he had to get through- with her. "He's typical for Tokijin." Bitter, bitter words. "It's not my best work."

Walking around his desk was a distraction, something for him to do before Sesshoumaru settled into his chair and wheeled up closer to the steel edge. He couldn't be in his office and not work, not if he had to discuss this in here.

"How can you tolerate that?" Sesshoumaru looked up from a series of numbers sitting on a printed page in front of him. His eyes taking the new distraction before he saw Kagura standing in front of the desk across from him. Her bare arms were folded in front of her, hair twisted up behind her head in its usual do and the sound of one tapping foot reaching his ears. Her eyes were sharp and a deep, dark crimson in the red light. "I mean _you:_" She pulled one hand free and gestured at him, fingers floating through the humming air. "-Sesshoumaru, you barely tolerate having an automatic car, how can _you_ be okay with what goes on down there?"

"I'm not okay with it." Even to his own ears he sounded defensive, too on guard for her to ignore it. In fact as soon as the words were spoken Sesshoumaru watched Kagura take a half-step back and rest her weight on her back leg, arms folded again and red eyes looking down on him.

"Well this place has been open for months." She challenged, and he found himself starting to wrestle with his temper. "So why haven't you fixed the problems yet?"

"I'm waiting." He snapped the words back at her, Kagura's gaze narrowing but he didn't care how impressive or frightening she thought herself. She couldn't use this awkward place in their relationship as a platform from which to attack his business skills.

"Waiting for _what?_" She was _not_ going to get away with- "There's broken glass and pot smoke filling the-"

"What were _you_ waiting for, Kagura?" Sesshoumaru didn't raise his voice, he was too strong a person to go shouting to get his point across. He interrupted her without touching the volume, Kagura's mouth snapping shut as she pinched her dark lips tightly. "Don't insult me." He went back to what he'd been doing.

"_Oh_- don't you even." Don't what? Sesshoumaru couldn't read the information in front of him, but he had his pen and kept his eyes trained on the page, refusing to acknowledge her as Kagura stormed around his desk. "Don't even _pretend_ to be the injured party here! You _walked away!_"

She kicked the side of his chair to get his attention, Sesshoumaru pressing his feet down on the smooth floor as the wheels under him spun and pulled him around. He ended up turning to face her, tossing the pen down over the paperwork before he stood up again. No, he wasn't just going to sit there and let Kagura loom over him. He wasn't going to let _her _talk down to him, there was no way he would give the woman that much satisfaction.

"Yes, because I obviously wasn't getting anywhere with you." He hissed, then watched her choke at him, as if she should be surprised. "You had weeks to say something. _Weeks _to tell me _anything,_ and you locked me out instead."

"And all the while your power's being cut and you put your house on the market-" She accused, her voice louder than his but her short stature not helping build the argument. "-don't act like I was the only one keeping secrets!"

Now what?

Sesshoumaru felt himself still standing there, stiff and tense with Kagura directly in front of him, but his anger had already peaked and was dropping. This wasn't going to turn into a screaming match, he didn't know why, but as much as part of him wanted to be bull-headed and deny his role, the rest of him didn't. And neither did she, because Kagura's hateful expression had already mellowed into a look of tempered disdain. In fact, even as they watched each other she drew one red lip into her mouth and bit it. Her eyes slowly fell from his until she was looking straight at him, or straight through him, he wasn't sure. So Sesshoumaru spoke first.

"We both kept secrets."

"It's what people do." She argued, looking back up at him. But he didn't disagree with her, Sesshoumaru catching his hand just before it could rise up and try to touch her. He didn't want to do that- well he _did_, but not yet.

"So what do we do?" He asked. Kagura kept watching him and he watched her mouth hang open, no words making their way out as she tried to speak but couldn't get them out. The look in her eyes told him to wait, that she was trying.

"_We..._" She repeated, looking down again a little and shuffling her feet like she wanted to move but she didn't know where to. When she managed the rest her voice was soft, caught in the back of her throat like the skin was raw. "My brother, he likes that word: _we_." A very uncertain smile tugged on her lips before Kagura let it fall, shifting her weight again and staring at his shoulder as if there were answers stitched onto his shirt for her to read. Then she turned a little and leaned on his desk, hopping up a little to sit on it.

Sesshoumaru didn't stop her.

"I have three brothers." She continued, bowing her head before looking back up at him, hands hanging between her bare knees and fingertips tapping together. She didn't look like she was going to cry, but he knew her well enough to recognize that Kagura was upset. "One just sort of... came out of nowhere a few months ago but... the other two, they're just fifteen and one." Sesshoumaru knew this, he'd heard it from Byakuya: Hakudoshi was the fifteen year old, he had an attitude problem or something _like. _The infant was just a baby, there wasn't much that could be said about him- Sesshoumaru didn't even know his name, and Kagura didn't share it with him now. Kanna was the little girl he'd met once, she was twelve.

Just thinking through this made Sesshoumaru miss part of what Kagura said next: repeating what he already knew about the sister. Then:

"My whole life is work and diapers, Sesshoumaru, so no, I didn't tell you." He listened to her, then moved so he could lean back on his desk the same way she was, Kagura to his right where her hands were hanging in her lap, but his fingers didn't stray towards hers. Not yet.

His eyes found the ceiling for a moment, and in that pause he found himself feeling claustrophobic again. It didn't happen very often, only when he was anxious and the stress was at its worst, closing in on him on all sides like he was being smothered in the sick grey walls and taunted by the window looking down onto the floor. Of the three doors in this room, one led out onto a stretch of roof over the street, and that was where he found himself wanting to escape right now. But he had to wait first, they would escape, but before that could happen...

"...I'm broke." If he'd uttered those words in the presence of his mother, or his half-brother, Sesshoumaru didn't doubt that he'd be obligated to kill them afterwards. If he'd ever spoken so frankly with Jaken, Sesshoumaru would lose his mind along with his pride and self-respect. If Jakotsu or Byakuya heard him say that he, Sesshoumaru Inu-Taishou, the man who'd made his first hundred-million yen before turning twenty-five, was out of money, he'd never be able to look either of his friends in the eye ever again.

"...How broke?" But Kagura just slipped her hand into his and scooted a little closer to him, allowing Sesshoumaru to drop his voice a little lower, like he could keep the walls from hearing, or the digital clock behind them from breaking the secret. She rested her other palm over his bicep and he felt her head settle against his shoulder. She was so warm...

"If I can keep Tokijin open for another six months, then I can make it." He explained quietly, spoke the words he'd only been able to say to himself for over a year now. Once this place survived its first year then he'd have paid down enough of the outstanding debts that had surrounded Tokijin's rushed opening. From the sound system to the drink nozzles to the flooring on which his patrons danced, none of it was more than half paid for yet. He just needed another six months, but he... "But if I close the doors, even for just the week or two I'd need to properly _fix_ what's wrong, I'll lose everything." He had no more credit, Sesshoumaru had no more power to borrow or invest, no more trust to navigate fees or extend deadlines.

"...I've never seen you this upset before." He had every reason to be upset. Sesshoumaru was fighting to keep it off his face, his mouth a straight line and his eyes trained relentlessly on the filing cabinet in front of him. "I get why you didn't tell me." He kept himself under control as he felt Kagura stand up, her touch leaving his arm as she stood in front of him, blocking his view of the spot where he'd been focusing.

She was smiling. Sadly.

"You leaving?" He asked, the words coming out softer than he'd meant them. It didn't feel like a mistake when her hands came up and spread back over his cheeks, holding his face as her thumb brushed over his scars. It was hard to keep his eyes open as he picked up the scent of her so close to him, Kagura leaning in before she answered him.

"Yeah..." No, but her lips settled over his before he could voice an argument. In fact he forgot what he'd been about to say, not because Kagura went out of her way to blow his mind, but because she was there at all. Sesshoumaru didn't even care about the taste of her lipstick, which was usually the only bad thing about being this close to her. Kagura didn't drag him to his feet or shove him down over the desk, her body leaning against his chest as his arm wrapped around her back and just stayed like that, not daring enough to move around or explore.

It wasn't their first kiss, the one that had been awkward and interrupted by her laughing. It wasn't their last kiss, that had been flirty and tired and sensual all at the same time. It wasn't any of the other kisses in the middle either, this kiss was different.

Because it acted like a question and it felt like an apology, a promise and a warning mixing awkwardly together as their lips came apart and he let his forehead rest against hers, the two of them nose-to-nose in the red light.

"Yeah, it's enough." She said quietly, her eyes closed in front of him as he felt her hands slide away, one resting on his shoulder while her fingertips brushed over his lips carefully. "For tonight, it... it's enough." For tonight...

"I'll call." He murmured, his hand slipping from around her back, arm pulling away as he watched her nod and then pull her purse around from where it had been slung over her shoulder. He recognized it, the black clutch with the long chain strap, he'd seen it before on dates they'd had.

"You will." She answered, sticking her fingers into the narrow bag before drawing out something small, round, and framed in pink plastic. It was a child's mirror, cracked and useless. "And you won't forget."

If anyone else made a move to touch his lame arm, Sesshoumaru would be hard-pressed not to do something about it. But Kagura laid a hand over his numb wrist and he felt the weight of the limb shift before she slid the plastic piece down into the sling. Once she was done he felt her tug on his jacket so it fell properly over the arm, obscuring all but his hand. She'd done things like that before: picked spots of lint off his sleeves or straightened his tie if he wore one, made sure he looked good in her eyes so long as they weren't already out in public when she saw something wrong.

_'... Those children are lucky.'_

"Call me?" This time Sesshoumaru stood up and he kissed her. It wasn't necessary, it wasn't as scared and tender as the one before. He could have chosen not to do it, to stay where he was and let her leave his office without another word, but that was the point. He _chose_ to do something. To do anything. He did the _right_ thing. "I'm free, so anytime..."

"Tomorrow." Tomorrow he would call Kagura, or later today, whatever day it was. Tomorrow he would call her. Tomorrow he would talk to her again.

Sesshoumaru would have Kagura back again.

* * *

><p>After talking to Sesshoumaru, Kagura hadn't gone back to dancing. Her cell had been buzzing almost constantly the entire time she was up in his office, texts and calls from her friends that all boiled down to: <em>'what's he saying?'<em>. When she came back down onto the floor she made a bee-line for the ladies room, hanging out there until her friends burst into the dimly lit space, Yura and Hari both going batty trying to ask questions and gossip and exclaim all at the same time.

She promised to tell them everything at work, so despite their protests she got herself into a cab with Abi who just wanted to be dropped off at a certain train station that was close to her apartment. The red head accepted her wish for quiet, Kagura torn between several different emotions and a bone-deep weariness that needed sleep.

When she got home that night- err, morning, she found an interesting surprise sitting on her bed, but it had to wait a bit.

The townhouse was big enough that the sound of her unlocking the door hadn't woken anyone up (that she knew of), and with her room on the ground floor there were no bedrooms to tip-toe past on her way to shower and sleep. She loved this place more and more as the weeks passed, almost coming to enjoy the paint fumes from the new pale rose pigment on her bedroom walls.

And right, that surprise. She hadn't noticed it when she ducked into her room past the sleeping infant and grabbed a change of night clothes and a towel, but once her nightly grooming was complete, Kagura came back and found an envelope from Byakuya resting on one of her pillows. Between the two of them her brothers had splurged behind her back and brought home a double bed for her one Friday night, so she almost missed the letter in her hurry to crawl into bed and dream about a certain silver-haired man...

"_Dear Little Sister"_- A very Byakuya-ish way of starting, though Kagura also noticed the various folds on the paper sheet between her hands.

"_Since I probably won't see you again until Saturday, I wrote you a letter, aren't I clever? Actually I am, wait until you hear this:_

_I found out why Kanna hates me! Hakudoshi and I were both put to sorry shame by her impeccable powers of logic, so you'll probably hear the story from him again in the morning. But I digress._

_As you and I both know, Kagura, I am three years your senior. However, at the age of nine I was removed from our happy family life, at which point you were six and our three beloved half-siblings not yet nightmarishly twinkling in the evil eyes of our diabolical father. At this point, Kanna states you became the eldest in the household and I consider this a sound deduction. After you came Hakudoshi, who is now fifteen (almost sixteen actually, but I'll save that for another letter), then Kanna herself, and then-"_

Here, the letter was a mess of scribbles, several attempts to put the infant's name into writing botched and eventually given up on by Byakuya's pen.

"_-the baby, who is now a year and change. And then there was my return a few month ago._

_Kanna has ruefully pointed out that I am in fact the newest member to our little family! Now, I have tenuously agreed with her that it is difficult to presume, given her summation of events, that I should claim the interceding sixteen years as time spent as your (collectively speaking) brother. However, I don't see a reason why I should be forced to surrender my previous nine years._

_By my count, the household ranking, based on ages, should go as follows:_

_You (22),_

_Hakudoshi (15),_

_Kanna (12),_

_Me (9),_

_Baby (1)._

_But Kanna would prefer I begin all over again, counting for me from December and assigning me a new birth-date on either 9th or 10th. She has stated that if I do not give due respect to both of my older brothers serious actions may be taken against me._

_Kagura._

_What does she mean by serious actions? Should I be concerned?_

_-Bya."_

Snickering to herself, Kagura idly followed the creases in the paper until she had a little crane in her hands. Pulling a pen out of her backpack, she scribbled a short note across the crane's wings, climbing out of her soft bed and padding into the kitchen to leave the bird on the counter where he'd be sure to find it.

"_She means serious actions. Be very worried."_

And then it was back into bed, with several hours of incredibly pleasant dreams to follow.

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><p><strong>I had an AN here that was about characterization, but I don't feel the same way now that I've read it again. <strong>

**Review if you read! Yay for 50 reviews!**

**Lemme know what you think?**


	30. This Valentine's Thing

**Candy Pop!**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

This Valentine's Thing

Valentine's was stupid.

"What's wrong, Haku? You look really tired!"

"I'm not."

"You're yawning!"

"_Ri-_" Yeah, fine, alright, he was yawning. Hakudoshi just glared at Rin over the back of his hand as he tried stuffing his wrist into his rebellious jaw. The two of them were standing in the senior locker room again, waiting for the crowd to thin out so he could get his bag and change his shoes around.

It was taking longer than usual though, Hakudoshi leaning back on the wall with his arms folded, one ankle crossed over the other. Groups of girls chasing groups of boys, a handful of guys teasing female peers for candies and chocolates, and one or two loud declarations about what sort of White Day gifts were acceptable for what kinds of chocolate.

Valentine's...

"You've been yawning all day." Rin pestered again, Hakudoshi giving the perky girl a side-long look, trying to gauge just how relentless she was going to be about this. Judging by her wide-eyed expression, she was liable to follow him home- something she'd tried a few times actually.

"My sisters were making chocolate all night." He admitted, finally. "Kanna wanted to take little flowers and stuff for her art class, so they kept making a bunch of noise." Just because his room was on the second floor didn't mean Hakudoshi hadn't been able to _smell_ the chocolate all night, or the banging pots and Kagura's loud voice. He'd also been treated to Kagura's screaming when she got up and found Byakuya had helped himself to a few of the broken pieces she'd set aside. Whatever. Hakudoshi had been more careful about plucking a handful of warped and discarded chocolate petals and eating them with his toast before running out the door with Kanna.

"Your sisters made flowers! Oh wow they must be so talented! Did your mom teach them? She must be so smart and kind and-"

"_Rin._" His mother? She didn't know. He hadn't told her. In fact, Hakudoshi probably _wouldn't_ tell her: it was none of Rin's business to know what was up with his family. She'd worked Kanna and Kagura's names out of him after a semester of pestering and refusing to stop following him around the school, or by showing up at the WacDonalds with her friends when he was working. Once or twice he'd caught himself before dropping Byakuya's name, so that was as far as she was gonna get.

"How much chocolate did you get today, Hakudoshi?" _Pfft._ Valentine's was stupid. "I bet your locker's full! Completely full of little chocolate bunnies and birds and stuffed eggs and-"

"Rin, this isn't Easter." Finally though, the group of laughing students in front of his locker wandered away, the two of them walking up to fill the space so they could get out of here. It was a Tuesday, he didn't have work so there was some time to kill with Rin. She was annoying and uppity and a little thick when it came to reading people, but she'd also follow him onto his bus unless he agreed to talk to her for a while before they parted ways.

It was kinda nice.

"_Ta-daa!_" Huh? He wasn't too sure what he was looking at until Rin reached into his locker around his shoulder and pulled out the cellophane-wrapped bundle of little chocolate hearts and stars. There were red designs patterned onto the clear plastic, and a red and white ribbon curled around the top to keep the bundle shut. "There are milk chocolate and white chocolate and dark chocolate ones, and a few swirly ones I know my brother really likes. Oh! And the ones with rice in them look like little rice-balls and my sister's boyfriend really likes the almond ones and-"

"You made...?"

"Of course! Kagome's boyfriend doesn't like chocolate very much, it makes him sick if he has more than a few pieces." Kagome was... Rin's sister, right. "But we made a whole bunch for him and I didn't know which ones you'd like more so-" Rin really knew how to keep talking, Hakudoshi accepting the delicate bundle and just sort of holding it in his hand like he didn't know what to do with it. Probably because he didn't: wouldn't they all get crushed if he put them in his bag? "And my birthday's in a few weeks and I really want you to come so that can sort of be like your White Day gift to me if you come to my birthday because it'd be really, _really _fun if you came and then you could meet Kagome and Mama and Kohaku and Miroku- and you already know Miss Taijiya and Souta so you wouldn't be _meeting_ them but you could-"

Hakudoshi just let Rin talk, changing his books around and making sure he had the papers he needed for his high school applications. Exams were in another two weeks. He changed into the new runners he'd bought to replace the ratty old ones and pulled on his jacket. To his surprise, he found a chocolate bar in a Valentine's-themed wrapper stuffed in the pocket.

"Look, you got another Valentine's gift! Isn't that great Haku?" It was kinda cool, actually. Who was this from?

"I'll come, sure." To her birthday party. "Doesn't sound that bad." Shutting his locker and making sure she was ready to go, Hakudoshi started walking, leading her out the door.

"_Really!_" Yeah, why not? He'd just run it by Kagura or Byakuya or something. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He unwrapped the candy bar that had been hiding in his locker, breaking off a piece and handing it to Rin as she chirped happily and danced around, gabbing about her party.

This Valentine's thing was pretty okay.

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><p>"This isn't appropriate, and it isn't <em>funny<em> either."

"_Well, I just thought that after we had such a great time together-"_ Byakuya almost choked into the receiver, then regained control as he looked up and saw his employer's piercing sage green eyes watching him.

"What time? There was no _time._ I dropped my sister off at work, and you happen to work there, and we said hi. _We said hi_. You can't go doing things like this out of the blue!"

Ms. Inu was very, _very_ particular about many many different things. For starters, she didn't like loud accessories and distracting items- the loudest visible item in the room should be her, and anything which interfered with that was simply intolerable. A bouquet of flowers and several helium-filled balloons was _intolerable_ in her office, _especially_ when they weren't even for her!

"_I thought a surprise would be nice, Bya~"_

"Well you surprised me! How the hell did you even find out where I work?" Glaring. Boss was glaring. Glaring boss. The lawyer's tongue started to tie itself in knots. Byakuya's hand quickly flipping the lid off the large heart-shaped box of chocolates that had _also_ been delivered to him, sheepishly offering the selection up for his friend's mother.

Kimi stared disdainfully down at the factory-brand chocolates, then plucked one up at random and viciously bit into the tiny treat. He was going to hear it later for offering her such a calorie-filled distraction, but for now the over-processed cocoa and glucose seemed to satisfy her building rage.

"_Go on a date with me~!"_

"No! I am not going to let you humiliate me into-"

"_Maybe this afternoon's surprise will change your mind then."_ This afterno-? No! NO!

"_NO!_ No more surprises- I'm surprised enough!" More glaring, and Bya made sure not to make any sudden movements as he carefully pulled out the little bundle of sub-par chocolate flowers he'd brought from home. Of course, Kanna had only permitted him to take them after he declared all the reasons why she was a good and kind and amazing older sister.

That child was creepy sometimes...

Sesshoumaru's mother snatched the gift right out of his hand and marched off, Byakuya focusing again on the voice purring through the phone at his ear.

"_If I have to woo you, Bya, then I'm fine with that. They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, so the cakes I ordered should-"_

"What colour are the cakes?" Why was there more than _one?_

"_Oh, they're pink and red and they have these yellow flowers on them with blue ribbon and-_" Frothing. That was what Kimi's mouth was going to start doing if a bunch of violently clashing cakes showed up in her office. She was going to froth at the mouth and then either throw him out the office window (and they were a good thirty stories up), or have him meet her in the parkade so she could try running him over a few times with her car.

Either way, he was going to be fired. And die. Dying would be involved.

"Cancel the cakes." A meaningful whine built up through the phone, but he talked over it. "Please, please, cancel the cakes. I'll pick you up at eight just please,_ please_ don't ever send anything to this office ever again, I'm begging you."

"_'kay-kay! See you at eight!" _Click!

It took Byakuya's heart about four minutes to stop hammering in his chest, the lawyer's legs numb and his mouth dry. There was no sound coming from his boss's private office, but he didn't know if that was a good thing. He checked her calender very quietly from his computer and confirmed that her ten o'clock appointment would be here on time. And that it was currently nine-fifty-three in the morning.

That gave him seven minutes to get Kimi's office back in suitable, sterile, surgical order before all hell broke loose.

This Valentine's thing would be the death of him.

* * *

><p>Tokijin had a few different entrances, but the one Kagura used was the fenced-in back exit, the same one he used late at night, near where he parked his car.<p>

Sesshoumaru had to be the one to let her in, and then they had to climb up the fire-escape to reach the roof, but from there they had easy access straight into his office. Coming in this way meant there was no cover for Kagura to pay (even if he'd refund it for her if she ever came in through the front again), no gawking patrons, and no encounters with his staff. And thankfully, so long as she gave him several minutes warning of her exact arrival, Kagura didn't even have to wait around in that stinky, smelly, dreary little alley waiting for him to appear and open the gate.

After a few weeks of sneaking his girlfriend into his own club, Sesshoumaru was equal parts sick of running up and down the fire-exit stairs to fetch her, and happily content with that tiny thrill that worked its way up as soon as she started texting him to say she was coming.

Tokijin's inner light show was all shades of red and flashes of white tonight, the music a little more raunchy and blatantly sexual than normal to appease the Valentine's crowd. Outside it was much quieter, and when he saw Kagura quickly round the corner and spot him, Sesshoumaru tried not to smile as he unlocked the gate and pulled it open for her.

"It's like I'm visiting you in prison or something." She laughed, not kissing or hugging him hello as they'd both agreed that the street-level stank of too many unsavoury things to waste time down here.

"It starts to feel like prison sometimes."

"Full house tonight?" She asked, leading the way up the fire-escape now that she knew how the twists and turns worked when climbing the rusty metal stairs.

"Mhmm..." Yes, even if he didn't particularly like Tokijin, the fact that the place managed to keep itself full was a definite bonus for him.

The roof was far more conducive to greetings than the alley, Kagura's lips finding his by the ugly yellow light hanging next to his office door, the moon too far away over the city and hidden by winter clouds to offer much ambiance. She was smiling though and felt excited to be there, her hands rubbing over his shoulders and reaching over and around the base of his neck appreciatively.

"I can't stay long tonight." Oh, that wasn't what he'd been hoping she'd say. He'd rather hoped that they- "My brother's on a date, so I have to be home by a decent hour." Decent being not two in the morning.

"Why's he going out on a Tuesday?" Byakuya had a typical job, and by typical Sesshoumaru meant the Monday to Friday grind his friend endured on weekends too. Not that she knew that he knew that, or at least Sesshoumaru still hadn't told her that he'd met her brother. He also wasn't sure if Byakuya knew about the current arrangement yet or not, but wasn't that their business, not his?

"I have _no_ idea, he was so cranky on the phone when he told me." Kagura was laughing and that made it hard to keep kissing her, Sesshoumaru relenting and taking her inside out of the damp night air. She seemed to accept that their '_dates'_ would be taking place in his office for the next little while, although he'd agreed to see her during the day that Friday. He was going to meet the baby...

"What's his name?"

"Huh?" Kagura had been wearing one of those eco-friendly black bags over her shoulder and had set it down on his desk, glancing around at him now as Sesshoumaru walked up behind her and looked down at what she'd brought. He slid is arm around her waist, pressing his nose in against her neck so he could press a kiss to the warm skin. This really was starting to feel like prison: he had no time to cook and eating out wasn't healthy for either himself or his wallet, so Kagura had taken it upon herself to bring him something home-made whenever she met him at night.

It would have been embarrassing if the food hadn't tasted good.

"The infant. What's his name?" Letting go of her, he stole a piece of tempura-fried shrimp from the container Kagura pried open, there was another one full of rice next to it. They didn't need dishes, and he ate the morsel as he found the chopsticks in one of his desk drawers.

"Oh, we don't use his name." Sesshoumaru had gathered that much, Kagura perched on the corner of his desk as he sank into his chair. Dinner.

"That doesn't mean he doesn't have one." Fighting her for another piece of shrimp, he won the all-important battle but held off on the reward. "You'll have to use it eventually or he'll be confused." Her brother would become one of those strange children who referred to them constantly in the third person...

"We'll probably use a nick-name, like _Akago_ or something." ...Akago just meant _'baby'_.

"Kagura."

"_I know._" She whined, kicking her feet and stabbing a piece of fried carrot with her chopsticks. Moody. "He's got a name, I swear." Right.

"Then what..." Kagura'd been looking at him, but as he spoke Sesshoumaru saw her focus change and her eyes lock onto something else. It took him a few moments to recognize the problem: a tiny little arachnid hanging from his ceiling had let itself down on a strand of silk, suspended between the two of them. "...problem, Kagura?"

"Kill it." She managed to give the order without physically moving her lips, her teeth locked together. Sesshoumaru watched as her entire body refused to move. Amused, he helped himself to a bit more rice, ignoring her plight until she repeated herself.

"Tell me his name." He answered casually, enjoying his dinner immensely now.

"_Sesshoumaru._"

"I doubt your parents named him after me." Just to mess with her a little more, Sesshoumaru reached out with his chopsticks and gingerly removed the piece of impaled carrot from his date's utensil, popping the spiced piece into his own mouth as he looked down at the invoice in front of him. She wasn't being very good conversation right now, so he might as well do some work.

"...Naraku. His name is Naraku now will you just-" Mm, their father's name? That was probably a good reason not to use it very often. And fine, Sesshoumaru set down his chopsticks and located the hanging spider with his eyes again, reaching out and- "_Not with your bare hand! Sesshoumaru that's **disgusting!**_"

"You never stipulated _how_ I should kill it." The tiny creature had barely been the size of his little nail anyways, too small for guts or for him to even feel as it died. Sesshoumaru wiped his palm off on his leg and looked up to find his utensils had been seized mercilessly, Kagura pointing severely in the direction of the small second-floor bathroom.

"_Wash._"

"Kagura-"

"_**Wash.**_" Hmph.

"This fear of yours can't be healthy." She shouted back at him that it was hereditary, and he just shook his head as he walked off. A quick trip to the faucet was better than arguing with her for the next ten minutes, winding her up about spiders wouldn't lead anyplace he wanted to go.

Sesshoumaru returned to find a third container popped open on his desk once he was done, little broken pieces of chocolate piled inside. Valentine's. He probably should have expected her to bring him something like this, but he wasn't sure what to do about it. He watched Kagura lift the container up and shake it lightly as he wandered back over to the desk, telling him to take a piece where she'd already popped one into her mouth.

"I hate chocolate." He stated, but he took a kiss for his trouble, fingers stroking the soft underside of her throat before Kagura started smiling again and set the plastic down. She tasted sweet, but he let her swallow before becoming too familiar with her right away.

"Then I have something _better_..." Better than home-made chocolate? Sesshoumaru found himself leaning forward over her after trading a few chaste kisses, his good arm braced on his desk behind her as Kagura scooted closer to the edge and wrapped her arms around his waist. He was more interested in her legs to be honest, kissing down behind her ear and listening to her give a deep, slow laugh into his shoulder.

"_Happy Valentine's._" She purred, one ankle hooking behind his leg and drawing him a step closer, Kagura's hand on his throat and pushing back a little. Before he could say anything her seductive smile was covered by her shirt as the bright blue fabric was drawn up over her head. The tee was discarded over the edge and Kagura leaned back a little on his desk, an enticing sight in close-fitting jeans that hugged her hips and the curves of her slender legs. Her modest black bra was frustratingly decent in the red light though, Sesshoumaru watching her tug the tie out of her hair and let the wavy strands spill over her shoulder. It was so hard not to smile.

"I thought you couldn't stay?"

"I can't, now c'mere." Not a difficult demand to meet. Their dates had been relatively tame: his office was locked from the inside but he was still, technically, at work. He had paper-work to do, people to oversee, a club to manage, responsibilities that- "_Sesshoumaru_..." -were simply not as important as the half-naked Valentine's gift sitting on his desk with her legs curled around his waist. Kagura dealt with his tie and jacket long before Sesshoumaru was satisfied that her breasts were as supple and plush as he remembered, to say nothing of what came after that.

In all, this Valentine's thing was perfect-

-except for the three seconds it took him to get Goshinki '_the fuck_' out of his office and back to work.

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><p><strong>God I had fun with that. Favourite chapter forever.<strong>

**Sadly running low however. I'm currently working on chapter 33 but it's coming... slowly. My bad? See you guys on Monday!**


	31. Brothers vs Boyfriend

**Candy Pop, Price Tag, There She Is Step 1 (I can't remember the name D:), assorted tracks.**

**Another funny chapter, but with some more plot and relationship-relevant parts.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Brothers vs. Boyfriend

_Round One: Byakuya_

Sesshoumaru liked to think of himself as a patient person, someone who could bide his time and wait calmly as others acted around him. Unless there was some matter of great personal or financial importance bearing down on him, and so long the company he kept wasn't composed entirely of idiots, usually being called into the middle of the city for a luncheon wouldn't grind his nerves.

"This can't be why you called me here."

"Please, please don't talk..."

Byakuya was in danger of breaking that convention.

They were sitting in that metropolitan cafe in his mother's building again, five floors beneath Kimi's practice and with cups of the burnt black sludge that the bored barista delighted in serving up. Sesshoumaru had almost finished his, Byakuya refused to pick his forehead up off the table. The black metal chairs they were sitting on were hardly comfortable enough to just sit in and endure the chatter around them, but his friend was being completely unsociable.

"Spit it out."

"_No..._" A discarded magazine on the table was picked up by the lawyer, opened to a random page and then slowly dragged over his violet head like he was trying to hide. Sesshoumaru tolerated another gulp of his caffeinated mud and tried a different avenue.

"Are you hung-over?"

"Mildly..."

"Did your date go well last night?" Byakuya just groaned like something dying. "So this is about your date..." No response, or at least nothing Sesshoumaru could interpret amidst several English curses and euphemisms that just didn't translate for him. "Does my mother know you're hung-over after mixing chocolate and alcohol?"

"She's in court..." Meaning yes, because she had probably left him behind to sleep off his hang-over rather than appear like a zombie before the bench. "Na, Sesshoumaru..." Oh? Was his friend finally going to volunteer something? "You have siblings, right?"

"One." Sesshoumaru suddenly didn't like where this was going, but he kept his face straight as Byakuya slowly picked his face off the table, still wearing that magazine like a hat. "A half-brother."

"Right..." For a moment it almost looked like the man had completely forgotten where he was going with this, but then it dawned on him again and Sesshoumaru bid himself be patient. Byakuya took a deep breath, held it for a second, then spoke in a very long slur: "_Hypothetically speaking if you slept with one of his best friends how would you break that to him without coming off as a total creep?"_

Sesshoumaru stared. He also meticulously picked apart all the differences in his relationship with Inuyasha compared with the relationship Byakuya had with his estranged family members. For starters: absolutely nothing of Sesshoumaru's business was Inuyasha's to know about, including his relationship with his half-brother's employee. Kagura was none of Inuyasha's business.

"So your date went well. Congratulations." Byakuya groaned loudly and dropped his head back down onto the table, Sesshoumaru unsure of how sanitary that really was. So, like a good friend, he gave the lawyer a good rhetorical kick to wake him up a little. "Although, wouldn't your half-brother's friends all be around sixteen years of age? That's hardly legal."

"What! _No!_" Of course Sesshoumaru knew that wasn't what he meant, but watching Byakuya almost lose his seat in his rush to stand up was quite rewarding. The bright February sunlight coming through the massive windows next to them was enough to curb the lawyer's reaction after that. Sesshoumaru swallowed more of his coffee as Byuakuya sat back down and buried his face in his hands trying to get away from the glare. "That... that's not even funny. No, don't do that..."

"Did you force yourself on the poor woman?"

"_Quite the opposite..._" Hmm, definitely Yura then. Watching Byakuya crumble in stages until he was once again face-down under his magazine, it was interesting to see Yura go after a man with such short hair, but maybe the colour intrigued her... Still, it must have been particularly embarrassing for the man if he was desperate enough to call Sesshoumaru into the city to talk to him.

"Kagura is rather forgiving of her friends' eccentricities." He stated offhandedly, an idea slowly forming in his mind, so he asked: "Are you more concerned with damaging your relationship with her, or the friendship between the two?"

"Um... both I guess?"

"Well, put yourself in her position." Byakuya was hung-over, he was extremely tired, stressed, and usually not the fastest to pick up social clues. After all, it had taken the man two months to figure out why Sesshoumaru had known so much about his sister. Chances were Sesshoumaru would be able to piece his question together with the lawyer leaving none the wiser. "How would you feel if Kagura slept with one _your_ friends?"

Byakuya seemed considerate for a moment under his magazine hat, then grunted into the table:

"Kagura already has a boyfriend..." Of course Bya would know that Kagura was seeing someone again, the two of them were careful to make sure the infant was never left without an adult for more than a few hours between someone's coming and going. The question of _who_ she was seeing was the problem.

"We're speaking hypothetically."

"Hypothetically my sister is sleeping with one of my friends, how do I respond...?" Precisely.

Sesshoumaru kept his face completely neutral as his friend picked his red face off the table again. He used his nearly empty coffee cup as an excuse to cover his expression and occupy his mouth as Byakuya's bloodshot eyes cleared, then sharpened, then filled with something rather violent.

Mm, he may have over-estimated the effect of the hang-over.

"My friends all live State-side."

"_Hypothetically-_"

"_You son of a bitch!_" Technically Byakuya was his mother's bitch, so that insult just doubled back and- "What did you do last night?" Sesshoumaru was quite certain _'Your sister.'_ would not be an appropriate response.

"I had a date."

"With who!" Byakuya was on his feet, shouting, which was not doing much to keep their discussion private or encourage Sesshoumaru to give straight answers.

"My girlfriend."

"Your _ex?"_ Well, she wasn't his ex any_more... _"My sister!" Mm, this luncheon was now over. Sesshoumaru made sure to make no sudden movements as he rose and straightened his jacket. "You could have at least told me!"

"I just did."

"I mean _before_ now!" He'd assumed Kagura would do that, which she clearly hadn't, and now Sesshoumaru was walking away before Bya could further embarrass either of them. The man _did _have to work in this building after all.

And why did he care so much? Had he not spent the past two months relentlessly hinting that Sesshoumaru should take his concerns to Kagura herself, not work through Byakuya? If the man hadn't wanted him anywhere near his sister, then he should have said as much or stopped mentioning Kagura around him all together.

They made it out into the elevator lobby before Sesshoumaru stopped, still blatantly ignoring Byakuya's grumbles and swears and over-all bad mood. If he cared about his career then the man really would have to make sure he didn't drink on weeknights.

"You _do_ realize that you're sleeping with my girlfriend's best friend." He stated plainly, catching Byakuya off-guard as the lawyer choked.

"No! Slept! I _slept_ with one of Kagura's best friends, and it will not happen again." There was almost a frantic amount of conviction behind those words. Sesshoumaru was mildly disturbed to see what sort of effect Yura had had on the man, everyone knew she was an aggressive flirt but... Sesshoumaru kept himself from commenting, he did _not_ want to have this sort of discussion. "And you! You won't do that again either!"

"Do what?"

"_My sister!_" Oh. Sesshoumaru didn't know whether to be disgusted or amused by Byakuya's statement, though he was leaning towards the latter. "Oh man, Hakudoshi'll _kill_you..." What? What did the half-brother have to do with this?

"Byakuya, I am not afraid of a fifteen year old boy." Or his hung-over brother. The lawyer's response was just to cuss repeatedly under his breath. "And are you actually trying to pass judgement here? It was inevitable with the way you kept talking to me about her."

"Of course it was inevitable! You'd start sulking whenever you thought about or were reminded of her." Sesshoumaru did not _sulk_. And he hadn't asked about Kagura since he'd started seeing her again anyways. "So yeah, I guess I'm alright with this..." Good, because it wasn't as if Byakuya had a choice. The ever-sluggish elevator dinged in front of him, but the doors didn't think to open until after Byakuya added something else. "Just watch out for Haku, okay?"

"Why?" Letting a number of frantic bureaucrats come piling out of the elevator first, Sesshoumaru left his friend behind and stepped into the hanging box, pressing the parkade button as he turned around. Despite his pale face, sunken eyes and groggy attitude, Bya still managed to put on a fake grin and stick his thumbs in the air like an idiot.

"Because you're the scar-faced cripple who dumped our sister!" _Cripple?_ Bastard. Sesshoumaru's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Say hello to Yura for me." The doors hummed shut and he watched Bya's expression change from taunting to confused-

"_Who's Yur-?_"

_-Thunk._

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><p>Sesshoumaru's view of the indigo lawyer was cut off, the metal box beginning to thrum and drop smoothly through the air. Sesshoumaru couldn't help but keep staring at the steel doors, a mild sense of discomfort creeping through his limbs and bothering his spine. Byakuya wasn't with Yura?<p>

Abi wasn't the sort of woman to drink a man under the table and then drag him into bed. Ruri was married and the general consensus around Hari had always been that she didn't like men. If Byakuya was sleeping with Kagome then Sesshoumaru didn't know how willing he'd be to go to Inuyasha about it. He couldn't think of any other female friends Kagura had.

The suspicious nag in the back of his mind didn't get any better by the time Sesshoumaru found his car, checking his phone before starting the engine.

Apparently Jakotsu had had a wonderful Valentine's...?

'..._ Please no.'_

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><p><em>Round Two: Naraku Jr.<em>

Friday came faster than Sesshoumaru thought it would, not because Tokijin was doing well, but because- ugh, nevermind. Friday, the day he was going to finally meet the infant Kagura was raising. Her little brother.

It wasn't just Kagura and the infant when he got there though. She hadn't given him directions to her new home, and come to think of it Sesshoumaru only knew she'd moved because Byakuya had mentioned that they were living together. He had no idea where that new place was, but Kagura had almost cancelled this afternoon on him because her little sister's school was cancelled. No. If Kanna couldn't stay home alone then Kagura could bring her, it didn't matter to him, she wasn't going to weasel out of this.

They agreed to meet at the No-Tama mall, another odd moment of high school nostalgia overcoming him as he entered the sprawling complex. There was a large water-feature in the east wing that he was supposed to find, and Sesshoumaru was thoroughly frustrated when he wound up on the wrong floor near the three-story attraction. The same bright February sunshine that had blinded Byakuya a few days earlier was still shining, spilling in through the yards of clear glass that made up the mall's ceiling.

The fountain he'd found was a monolith of green glass and faux brown stone, probably meant to resemble some sort of glacier. It punctured the four levels of the mall, the upper floors opening up in wide circles so the sunlight and water could be seen in all their combined glory. Standing on the third story looking down, there was seating and a play-area set up on the ground floor, and sure enough there was a white-haired girl sitting next to a young woman, a toddler bouncing in the younger one's lap.

Sesshoumaru was still trying to figure out how to get _down_ there when his cell finally buzzed in his pocket. He'd expected a work number, but instead he saw Kagura's name and answered.

"_Where the hell are you?"_

"Look up."

"_Huh?"_

The woman down on the floor did what he said, and Sesshoumaru pulled his phone away from his ear so it looked like he was waving. Once she waved back he quickly replaced the phone.

"_How the hell'd you get all the way up there?"_

"I'm still not sure."

"_Well hurry up and get down here!"_ Hmph. Because he needed her to tell him what to do.

The place was built like a veritable maze, the elevators only went down one floor at a time and were positioned quarterly around the giant hole. There were no stairs, and the escalators were out of sight and hidden someplace between the north wing and the food-court. After another ten minutes of coasting through the mall, Sesshoumaru _finally_ found his way to the ground floor.

"Took you long enough." Kagura was seated on a plastic bench that had been molded and painted to look like a mossy log, some faux stones with steps and slides built into them scattered across the rubber floor. A low half-wall separated the kid's play area from the rest of the mall, a security guard posted near the entrance who only let Sesshoumaru in after Kagura waved him over with a grin. He didn't resent the security, if anything it was better knowing there was someone keeping track of the tens of small children bouncing and running around inside the pretend forest.

Kagura was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a familiar red camisole as Sesshoumaru walked up, a white blouse open and covering her arms where the ugly lemon-yellow raincoat she so often wore was slung over her lap. She had her usual jade earrings on, black hair tied up in a bun behind her head and just a tinge of make-up on her lips and eyes. She gestured across the pretend pool of water and Sesshoumaru sat down next to her, finding the white head Kagura was following with her eyes as she leaned into his arm a little.

"Whenever we come here he always hides under that bridge over there." She explained, and Sesshoumaru had no idea what she meant until he saw the girl stand up with a new attachment clinging to her neck. He had only ever met Kanna once, months ago, but was pretty sure he recognized her.

"Kagura." The woman looked up at him and Sesshoumaru was struck by how readily Kanna met his eyes from across the play area. She didn't seem surprised that he was there, but she didn't so much as blink as she collected her brother and started making her way over to them. "How worried should I be about your brother?"

"Hm? Did you meet Byakuya?" He knew what she meant by that question, but Sesshoumaru layered his own meaning over-top of it and spoke as if she already knew that they were friends.

"Yes. We had coffee and he warned me about your brother Hakudoshi." He spoke the words smoothly and casually, ignoring the fact that she pulled away from him a little in surprise.

"Wait, you mean you already _know_ Bya?" Sesshoumaru was very good at getting his face to do what he wanted, so looking at her with one carefully raised brow was no challenge.

"My mother keeps him as her assistant, we might not be close but I still know-"

"He works for your _mother!_" Bad Byakuya. Sesshoumaru's mother would be furious if she found out that her assistant didn't spend his every waking moment venerating his beloved employer. For himself, Sesshoumaru feigned complete ignorance as he felt Kagura getting ready to burst into flames at his side, her scorching gaze trained on the side of his face, daring him to twitch and give away his involvement.

He'd much, much rather let Bya deal with that.

"Kagura." Kanna's voice was soft and pulled her sister's attention off of him, but as Sesshoumaru took the excuse to look at the little girl, he found that she was still staring at him as severely as before. "Did he say something?" Did she honestly think this was all his fault? Sesshoumaru was not going to allow a twelve-year-old to get mad at him.

"Bya's dead." Kagura snapped, her arms folded tightly, one leg crossed over her knee and bouncing in aggravation. Sesshoumaru had hoped she'd been in a better mood than this, but perhaps that was his (Bya's) fault. "That's all you need to worry about."

"I thought he would have told you, you live in the same house, don't you?" He meant for the comment to ease into something more tolerable, loosen Kagura up and dampen her temper. He succeeded in the latter but also watched his girlfriend pinch her lips together tightly, her back straight and eyes both wide and staring off into the distance. Hmph. "People keep secrets."

"Yes they do." Kagura agreed with him and seemed to unfreeze, Sesshoumaru noting that Kanna had _still_ refused to take her eyes off of him. The infant in her arms was also staring now as well, lavender eyes drifting senselessly between himself and Kagura.

"Sesshoumaru, baby. Baby, Sesshoumaru." That was not how you introduced someone under the age of two to another person, but Sesshoumaru didn't expect, and quite frankly didn't _want_ to be treated to baby talk and over-expressive smiles. "Hand him over."

Huh?

Sesshoumaru was fine with Kagura saying the words, the words didn't bother him, it was the gesture. It was Kagura swishing her wrist casually between Kanna and _him_ that bothered him. The command to Kanna was not _'Hand him over to me',_ it was '_Hand him over to him_'. She expected Sesshoumaru to hold a toddler?

"Kagura." Kanna seemed to follow his logic, the child finally breaking her stare and looking at her sister. Sesshoumaru's girlfriend rolled her eyes and opened her hands, scooping the toddler out of the little girl's arms to said child's great delight. The toddler didn't seem to mind Kagura's lack-lustre expression, her moody countenance, or her refusal to let him collapse against her bosom. She simply stood him up on her lap and the one-year-old garbled happily at her, his tiny feet dancing inside red and yellow sneakers, blue denim over-alls and a yellow sweater underneath all appropriate for the cooler weather and air-conditioned mall. His lavender eyes were captivated by both her hair and the sparkling water crashing down behind her, and Sesshoumaru watched their interactions curiously.

If the baby had been comprised solely of jell-o he might have been able to do a better job of standing still, but Kagura hardly seemed to notice the child's jumps and jitters. She had both hands under his arms, her hold loose to the point where she came close to simply letting go a few times until the baby started to tip one way or the other. It was a game that Kagura spent a few minutes playing with him, her sour expression fading into a playful smirk before she looked up at Sesshoumaru again.

Sesshoumaru shared a brief look with Kanna. No, she didn't trust him with this either.

"Kagura-" It was his turn to try arguing with her this time, but as soon as he said her name Sesshoumaru found a surprised toddler standing on his right leg. The infant was not stupid, and insulted indigo eyes sharply questioned just who the fuck Sesshoumaru thought he was to be holding him. The man didn't have an answer. "This child doesn't know me, he-"

"Then hold him and he'll figure it out." She could have at least sat him down instead, not planted his feet on Sesshoumaru's thigh. The toddler was no more steady on his legs now than he'd been on Kagura's lap, and when her hands vanished from under his arms the tiny person gave an uneasy cry and started to tip ba- "Hold him!"

Sesshoumaru's good arm had been up and encircled the child, but actual contact had not been made. At Kagura's exclamation he snapped the limb tight around the very small, very squishy body, the child's tiny hands grasping at his jacket and the collar of his shirt trying not to fall. It was awkward for both of them, Sesshoumaru awkwardly trying to adjust his arm so he could get a proper grip on the child, whereas the tense bundle clinging to him was trying to twist and turn around, looking for Kagura.

Another wordless whimper bubbled out of the infant as he finally got around Sesshoumaru's shoulder, and he shot Kagura an accusing look to back-up her brother's argument. This was not a good set-up, take him back, cuddle him and do that thing that was making him so happy.

"Excellent." Kagura wasn't listening to either of them. "Now you just hold him like that and I'm gonna go make a phone-call."

"_Maa...!"_

"Excuse me?" They spoke over one another but said the exact same thing. The toddler watched his sister stand up with her purse, abandoning the coats she'd been carrying next to Sesshoumaru and making sure the stroller was wheeled up next to him as well.

"Bya, I'm gonna go give him shit." She said it with such a sweet smile Sesshoumaru wasn't willing to believe he'd heard her right.

"Now? You're going to do that-" She was walking away from them-!

"Just play with him for a few minutes!" No. This was unacceptable, and the infant voiced his disapproval with a very eloquent series of babbles. Sesshoumaru turned his sights on the other sister, but before he could speak- "Kanna, come!"

"But he-" Kanna didn't know where to set her black eyes, her gaze moving rapidly between Sesshoumaru and her sister. She hadn't exactly been _pleased_ about seeing him again, but the man was certain he wanted Kanna to stay _here_ and keep her baby brother happy. At another firm call from Kagura though, it was established that Kanna didn't love her brother as much as she feared their sister.

"I won't tell him." She stated quickly, and Sesshoumaru had no idea what the tiny white-haired child was talking about. "Haku. I won't tell him you held the baby."

"Why not?" Kagura was glaring from the little doorway leading into the play area, Kanna dropped her voice a little and gave a completely serious answer.

"Because he said he'd break your good arm if you ever touched our brother. So I won't tell him." Oh. Well. Thank you. He was not afraid of a fifteen year old, but as Sesshoumaru watched Kanna quickly spin around on her heel and follow Kagura, he was beginning to wonder if he should be.

Thus was Sesshoumaru Inu-Taishou, sole owner and operator of the Tokijin night club in West Tokyo, _abandoned_ in the No-Tama mall's toddler play-area with a disgruntled Naraku Jr. on his lap. They were left like that for about twenty minutes, in which time they bonded.

Sesshoumaru discovered that they both had an appreciation for Kagura's soft upper-body, since the child completely refused to continue being held after about two minutes of close proximity. The infant also had Kagura's table-manners, because it took three tries to coax the child away from chewing on the plastic bench- and Sesshoumaru had to be content with child gumming on the much cleaner length of his silk tie instead. Well, he hadn't liked the indigo colour much anyways.

Naraku Jr. was also disgustingly similar to his half-brother. Even after twenty minutes of the two of them sitting on the floor staring at one another, the infant still refused to divulge any details concerning his older brother's height, weight, or possible martial-arts experience. He was simply more interested in relentlessly untying the laces of Sesshoumaru's shoe than telling him anything that would help the man figure out what, _exactly,_ this Hakudoshi figure was planning to do to him.

This could be a problem.

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><p><strong>I think we can say he won the round against Byakuya, had a tie against the Infant and... well, we'll see what happens with Haku.<strong>

**Read and review, please! Unfortunately, until I hammer out chapter 33, it looks like Friday will be my last update for a while. I'm trying!**


	32. Round Three

**Raise Your Glass, Candy Pop, Fuckin' Perfect, Kuon No Kawa.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Round Three

Entrance exams.

It took everything Hakudoshi had to open the front door to the house. Even once he heard the mechanism click and felt the handle give under his hand, physically opening it and stepping inside was next to impossible. He just... did not want to go home.

He'd seen Rin at the exam, and Karan had been mixed in there too- he'd seen her across the hall before the test began. Other students had been there, but a lot had been missing; the people who weren't interested in getting into high school, the ones who didn't want college after that. Hakudoshi was one of those people who'd taken funny looks when he came inside, a wild-card no one would have really expected to see walk into an entrance exam. Maybe they'd thought he was just there to waste time and write obscene things over the answer sheets.

He almost wished that was what he'd done.

"Hey! Look who's home!" Friday, right. Hakudoshi had loitered in the metro system for a good two hours, riding buses and trains all over the place, even all the way out to the cemetery where his mother's ashes had been interred. It had been good for him, actually, going to see his mother. But he'd had to come home eventually and Kagura was still there. She hadn't gone to work yet, or maybe she'd been waiting for him.

She poked her head out of the kitchen with a big grin on and the ugly orange apron she'd helped Kanna make out of a kit. She saw him and her smile dropped though, just sort of fell off her face and hit the floor in a dozen pieces.

Kanna was home too, appearing in the living room as he kicked off his shoes and let his back-pack fall off his shoulder. Kanna didn't smile a lot, so he almost felt worse watching her lips thin out. He walked past her and quickly escaped upstairs before either of his sisters could call him back. He knew Byakuya wasn't home yet because his car was missing from outside.

The high school entrance exams were monsters. They were relentless demons that looked for a single weak-spot in your concentration and pounded on it until you broke. Hakudoshi thought he had his bases covered, thought he knew the math and the physics and the history, but there were two pages of his exam that focused on one formula that he just couldn't remember. There was a principle that he couldn't put his finger on. There was an entire war that just hadn't been in his head when he needed to put it down on the page.

The one thing Hakudoshi had to do for his family was the one thing he'd just fucked up. So no, he didn't want to stay downstairs with his sisters.

When you went upstairs in their house, there was a door right in front of the stairs that led to Byakuya's master suit. It was just one hallway on the second floor, with a balcony over the steps that looks down into the living room. Opposite Bya's room was Kanna's, then there was Haku's room next to hers. His window over-looked the small portion of roof spread out over the drive-way, large with a sill wide enough to sit on. For right now though, he chose to lay back on his bed.

It was the same bed he'd had in the apartment, same bed he'd had back when they lived in the house. It was just a white particle board frame with a mattress sitting on it, a plain square headboard with all the nicks and scratches and blacked-out writing of his childhood on it. Across from the bed was a desk he and Byakuya had put together a few weeks after moving here.

His room here was a lot bigger than the one he'd had in the apartment, so there was space for the desk. It was just a place for him to do homework or read but for the most part the chair just held clothes and the desk had stacks of school books on it. The poster Kagura got for him, the one with the authentic autograph from the Thunder Brothers, was on his wall next to the closet door. There wasn't much else on the walls though, and there were a couple of magazines were spread on the floor next to his bed, untouched.

Kanna didn't say anything before coming into his room, and Hakudoshi didn't kick her out. She shut the door behind her and stood there quietly for long enough that he almost forgot she was there, lost in thought staring up at his ceiling, but then she moved.

Kanna wasn't like anyone else in their household. She wasn't loud or argumentative or angry. Even Byakuya raised his voice more than Kanna ever did. She was still stubborn like Kagura, and sometimes she could be even more jaded than Hakudoshi when it came to people she didn't like. Kanna also had an even better memory than Byakuya about all the reasons she had to be upset with someone. But she wasn't really like any of them on the outside. She didn't throw things, didn't shout, didn't yell, didn't start fights. She didn't pry. She didn't make you talk.

She just sat on the bed and laid down on her back next to him, staring up at the ceiling without saying anything. The only thing Kanna did as the minutes started ticking by, the lights off and the sun going amber through the curtains, was reach up and touch his hand. That was it.

"...I bombed it." The only thing he'd had to do. The only thing his family had been _counting_ on him to get done. "Four... five pages. I didn't have any answers."

"It's a long test." It was one Kagura had failed, so she'd just not gone to high school. It was one Byakuya hadn't had to take, because American schools were completely different from Japanese ones. Now Hakudoshi had failed his, so who the hell was Kanna supposed to look up to? "Are you going to Rin's party?"

Haku closed his eyes, Kanna still holding his hand as he brought his other arm up and hooked his elbow over his eyes, blocking out the sunset so he couldn't see anything. He was still wearing his uniform, and he could smell whatever Kagura was cooking downstairs.

"No."

Rin's birthday was tonight. He'd agreed to go. He'd bought a present- a small orange digital camera, one with some yellow flower sticker things on the side. It wasn't some top of the line HD device, just a stupid camera for taking stupid pictures. She worked with the school paper, she had all the pens and notebooks and stuff like that, he wasn't gonna get her anything to wear like jewelry or something gushy like that. No. A camera for paper photos and stuff. There.

"I'll just give it to her on Monday." Kanna moved a little, rolling onto her side on his bed until her head was touching his shoulder, her other hand holding his arm lightly.

"Kagura is making udon." Oh, well at least that was good. "Did you tell Rin you would go?"

"...When she invited me." But he knew what Kanna meant... "Yeah. Right before the exam started." Maybe that was it? Maybe he'd been distracted before the test?

No. He'd tried figuring out what he'd done wrong on the train back from the exam: Haku'd finally opened his exercise book and had been completely lost even when he found the examples.

"You should take her gift tonight." He should, but- "Kagura said she knows where the restaurant is." He didn't move his arm from over his eyes, not right away, but he remembered what Kanna was referring to. Rin's birthday was happening out at some restaurant her sister was connected to, if he went he'd have to get Bya to drive him, or figure it out with the buses before he left. With that in mind...

"How does she know?"

"It's the same club where she works." Kongosoha was a part of Tetseiga? "It's upstairs." Huh. He'd never have guessed that. "If you want to go, she said you have one hour."

One hour...

"They might have udon."

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><p><em>Round Three: Hakudoshi<em>

Kongosoha. The restaurant patio hadn't been in his father's original plans for Tetseiga, the space up-top hadn't even been weight-bearing at the time. Sesshoumaru had been the one to make the idea happen, the one to figure out how best to organize the space and then update the kitchen so it could provide for both the clients inside as well as the restaurant outside.

But although he'd been the one to make it real, Sesshoumaru hadn't been the one to think it up. That honour, unfortunately, went to Inuyasha.

The combination of his half-brother's influence and Rin's birthday eventually convinced Sesshoumaru that yes, he did have to come and attend the party. He would have greatly preferred it if Kagome's family had booked the event _anywhere_ else in the city, but he came just the same.

There had been a very brief time, years ago, where Sesshoumaru had involved himself with Kagome. Passing her off onto Inuyasha had been a way of making everybody happy: Kagome was far too sweet for Sesshoumaru, Inuyasha was too helpless to find a girl on his own, and the girl found his brother's impossible behaviour endearing. It had been a tidy little arrangement. Easily settled. No hard feelings.

The only person who had _not_ been pleased was Rin, who seemed to be Kanna's antithesis and had adored him openly even after Inuyasha's entrance. It hardly surprised Sesshoumaru that, with the exact wedding date still up in the air between Inuyasha and Kagome, Rin had somehow managed to get her hands on Sesshoumaru's cell number and begin texting him constantly. By agreeing to come to her party, he was saving himself an exorbitant March phone bill.

Besides, it was Friday. If he was lucky then Sesshoumaru might get to catch one of Kagura's routines.

And if he wasn't, (and he really, really wasn't) then Sesshoumaru was going to spend his entire meal sitting across from Kagura's teenage brother.

It was March, Inuyasha was wise not to tempt fate by taking down the awning over the patio which kept it dry during the colder, rainier months. Strings of lights were woven overhead, all shades of amber and pink with silver tinsel decorating the wires. One half of the large wrap-around patio had been booked off, not an uncommon decision considering the patio could hold up to thirty tables. Still, it was an exclusive place, and the portion reserved for the birthday was well decorated for the night.

The large table was dressed in white, orange and pink flowers continuing with the colour theme as there were silver ribbons tied around champagne flutes and the backs of chairs. The sounds of the club were muffled, but music still pulsed through the door whenever it was opened for a member of the wait staff to come through on an errand. The skylights that lit up Tetseiga during the day worked in reverse when it was dark like this: strobbing blue and flashing yellow striking the glass from inside as the party continued downstairs. Little white cards with guests' names on them told everyone where they were to be seated, and Sesshoumaru was disappointed to find himself next to Inuyasha and across from someone named Hakudoshi O.

He wasn't fooled.

Rin was a blur of white and orange in a patterned kimono, her head still rebelliously marked by the little pigtail coming out of her hair and wrapped in more tinsel. Despite being sixteen, she'd wrapped her arms tight around his waist like a small child when he arrived, then bolted for the next guest and the next hug.

Sesshoumaru was required to speak politely for a few minutes with Mrs. Higurashi, who was making a point of not speaking to his step-mother, Izayoi, at least not tonight. It was all something about Kagome's wedding dress: because of course a traditional Japanese ceremony was the only option... He was also well-behaved when visiting briefly with Izayoi, and agreed that a modern, western-style wedding would be much more engaging and memorable for the wedding party.

Sesshoumaru wasn't even sure if he'd attend the wedding, whenever it was, so he didn't particularly care which mother won out.

The guest list was suspicious, deeply so, with a number of Inuyasha and Kagome's friends appearing and only a handful of teenage girls showing up. Miroku, Sango, Kohaku- who probably counted as one of Rin's friends, since he _didn't_ get a hug and the pair just stood there stammering at one another when he arrived. Several people Sesshoumaru didn't know, all bearing gifts, until finally...

"Hakudoshi-kun!" A young man with shoulder-length white hair, brushed with violet. Indigo eyes very like his elder brother's, and tall enough that he came just a bit higher than Sesshoumaru's shoulder. Underdressed. Not badly, but the white dress shirt he'd put on and worn open over a tee-shirt was clearly out of place once he took a look around him. At least he noticed the issue and sought to correct it without being too obvious; the next time Sesshoumaru saw him Hakudoshi's shirt was buttoned up all the way, not to mention tucked in.

Unfortunately, the next time he saw the boy was when Hakudoshi saw _him_ for the first time, when they were being seated for dinner. Had he mentioned that they were seated across from one another? It bore repeation: Sesshoumaru was expected to eat with an outraged teenager glowering at him over the centrepiece.

They had sized each other up as the appetizer was presented, a flock of waiters at the ready with carbonated punch and water- it was Rin's birthday, no one would dare scandalize this event with alcohol. If had Inuyasha so much as dared to tempt that line, his future family may have killed him- it didn't matter what Izayoi quietly murmured from the other end of the table. The tension between the two families, although not deadly, kept anyone from noticing Hakudoshi's futile attempts to keep his tender fish in one neat piece on the plate. Sesshoumaru also made a point of removing his garnish first, answering the boy's haughty gaze with one that pointed out how he wouldn't be the one to have twigs stuck in his teeth all night.

And so it went.

* * *

><p>Until it all went very, very badly.<p>

Sesshoumaru learned more about Hakudoshi than he perhaps wanted to as the dinner went on and the party wore down into something that was almost painful. Kagura's brother was very much like his elder siblings: he didn't like personal questions, he didn't enjoy having people pry into his family's business the way Rin's mother and sister kept doing. But Byakuya and Kagura both had far more experience dealing with those sorts of questions, and they already had a stockpile of answers and deflections at the ready.

Hakudoshi did not. The boy stammered when he didn't out-right freeze, and although it was none of Sesshoumaru's business- or rather, because he had no intention of letting on about his relationship or of making the teen (excessively) mad at him, he supplied answers in his stead. Pains were taken to keep Kagura out of the conversation, but Sesshoumaru had a legitimate reason for knowing Byakuya, and so long as he didn't announce at the dinner table that the man worked for his mother, it was safe territory.

The family's fascination with Hakudoshi should have been expected: Rin was sixteen. She was expected to get into a top High School that would propel her into a prestigious University, but she was also at that age where boys could swiftly become more important than marks. If she'd invited him to this party without him knowing her family personally, then the Higurashi Clan probably felt obligated to protect their interests: no boyfriends without mother's approval.

Sesshoumaru wasn't even sure the boy had thought that far ahead in the relationship, and with the way things ended it certainly didn't _look_ like that would be the direction for the next little while either. Hakudoshi knew the name of the firm Byakuya worked at, and Sesshoumaru had no way of politely communicating the words _'lie your ass off'_ over his entree before the boy supplied the answer to Miroku's question.

The conversation was so far above the heads of the Birthday girl and her immediate friends, but even Rin knew that Sesshoumaru's mother was the Senior Partner of the Zangetsuha legal firm in downtown Tokyo. The prestige of Byakuya's position was brutally mauled by Rin's well-meaning voice as she announced the relationship to the entire table: yes, Hakudoshi's brother worked for Sesshoumaru's mother.

And no, Hakudoshi had not known this.

There had also been no mediating the damage when Rin also announced, in the same well-meaning voice she always used, that Hakudoshi had not applied to Midoriko Preparatory School like she and most of the other new middle-school grads at the table. The difference between Midoriko and the Datsuki technical school was only damning to adult ears. Hakudoshi and Kohaku looked like the only teens who noticed the interest drain out of Mrs. Higurashi's eyes at the announcement.

Like his siblings, Hakudoshi hated being judged by others. Sesshoumaru was adept at turning aside comments about his work and business, able to engage in economic and political topics in the meantime. Hakudoshi couldn't escape being drilled on his family and his schooling. Sesshoumaru couldn't provide answers for what Hakudoshi's father did for a living, he couldn't intervene with news about the boy's deceased mother. Rin simply wasn't experienced enough has a hostess to recognize what was happening and intervene.

Sesshoumaru was fully prepared to leave the event once the cake was cut and the dishes cleared away, but was stalled when he saw Hakudoshi being led into the club by Inuyasha.

Some sense of obligation to Kagura convinced him to follow.

"How do you know Kagura?" The music was a lot louder once you passed through the door, all three of them now standing on the metal grating that made up the second floor over the dancing crowd. Blue lights and flashing effects, rising smoke and the pulsating sounds of the club were overwhelming. Familiar. Missed.

"I- What does that even-?" Kaze, Onigumo. The two didn't look alike enough for Inuyasha to directly infer that the two were siblings, but as Sesshoumaru moved inside the club for the first time in over a year, he cut the conversation short.

"Do you always harass your guests, little brother?" Inuyasha almost jumped straight up at his voice, but Hakudoshi visibly bristled before whipping around to face him.

"You're _brothers! ?_" Mm, Kagura needed to work on her communication skills.

"Half-brothers." He corrected, then looked back at his confused relation. Inuyasha's yellow eyes were green in the erratic lights, and Sesshoumaru nodded back over his shoulder at the gathering outside. "Your mother is asking for you." A lie, but one that Inuyasha would have to check out in the _off chance_ that Sesshoumaru was telling the truth. The other man looked at the teen for a moment, then Sesshoumaru, then finally swore under his breath and stormed off the way he'd come.

Hakudoshi didn't take his eyes off Sesshoumaru, and as much as he didn't want to, he spoke first.

"Yes. Your brother works for my mother, and your sister works for Inuyasha." He stated boldly, not in the mood to mince his words while speaking to someone who'd developed such an irrational hatred for him. "Is there a problem?" He could practically hear the boy's complaints already- did he think Sesshoumaru was black-mailing Kagura into his bed? Did he really think so little of his own sister, that she could be brought down by something like gossip?

"So my family just works for yours? Is that all this fucking is? Next I get a job working for you- or Rin even?" Hmph. Doubtful.

"The only person in that room I can speak for is Rin," Because there wasn't a malicious bone in that girl's body. She could be annoying when she wanted to be, or when she simply didn't know any better, but Sesshoumaru shook his head at the boy's accusation. "She did not invite you here tonight because you're part of the Help. And Inuyasha is not aware of my relationship with your sister."

"_Right._ That's not why he called me out here at _all!_" This boy had a temper like Kagura's, a condescending way of speaking that wasn't tempered quite the same way and which didn't hold the same appeal as Sesshoumaru listened.

"It isn't." He responded simply. "Kagura listed you as a contact when she began working here, and he has become a meddlesome employer." Inuyasha had probably recognized the name and become irritated with Hakudoshi's youth. If Sesshoumaru found out that his half-brother was trying to interfere with Kagura's affairs again, he wouldn't stay out of it this time. "Are you going back out there?"

"No." Understandable. He'd been mocked, embarrassed, humiliated in front of his peers and been forced to endure it all with a hostess who'd remained oblivious to his plight. Sesshoumaru had grown sick just _watching_ it.

"Do you want a ride home?" Why would he ask something like-?

"Why the hell would I?" Sesshoumaru felt himself bristle at the tone. He would not be rebuked like that.

"Because your sister won't end her shift for at least four more hours, and you're underage and can't hang around here." He stated simply, glancing down at the pulsating dance floor- and the bar in particular, to make his point. Hakudoshi would either have to sit out on the patio until 2 in the morning waiting for Kagura to finish, or take the buses on his own to get home. Did he expect Byakuya to drive him? Come to think of it: "I know you're saving up for a car."

It wasn't what Sesshoumaru expected to say, but he preferred it over _"I know you __**don't**__ have a car.". _Hakudoshi also wasn't expecting it and the teen blinked so hard he forgot to keep scowling.

"What?"

"Your sister won't tell me what kind, but she keeps mentioning it." Kagura had a terrible memory for cars. "Byakuya's no better." He really wasn't. The lawyer had an excellent head for his job, but if his car was one day replaced with a bicycle he probably wouldn't even notice.

"Well, so what if I'm saving up for one?" Tch. Of course he wasn't going to make this easy for either of them. At least Sesshoumaru noticed the change in the boy's voice: it was almost too quiet to hear in the noise of the club, and his black, hateful stare wasn't sitting quite right on his face anymore. Good signs.

"Do you know how to take care of an engine?" Change the oil, check the fluids, keep track of the brakes and tire rotation, things like that? Hakudoshi's face did... something strange. The answer was obviously a no, but for a moment he nearly, _almost _looked like he had something else to say. And then the teen shook it off and remembered who he was talking to.

"Whatever, I'm taking the bus home." Stubborn brat, Sesshoumaru took a breath to sa- "Besides, it's not like you know where we live now anyways." -Erg. "Kagura hasn't let you come anywhere _near_ our new place since we moved." That was- true. Sesshoumaru could come up with a reply, he could formulate a response to that.

He just couldn't do it before Kagura's spiteful half-brother walked past him and vanished back out onto the patio. He'd make his good-byes and be gone long before Sesshoumaru could compose himself properly and follow.

That bastard.

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><p><strong>You didn't really think I'd let these two bond all in one chapter, did you?<strong>

**And why the hell did this chapter not have any page-breaks? It bugs me whenever that happens. Re-uploaded November 8th.**

**Thanks so much for your reviews! I WILL finish this story!**


	33. Bring it, Bitch!

**Candy Pop**

**Hello everyone! I can't blame the wait on this chapter alone but I can certainly give it a dirty look and grumble a lot. The real issue is school, but thankfully I've found the time to work on this again and make some progress. At the very LEAST, I've identified some problem areas and have worked out some organizational issues with the later chapters.**

**I currently have 6 chapters ready to post after this one, so we'll see how that goes with one update a week on Sundays for the next six weeks.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Bring it, bitch!

This little rivalry between Sesshoumaru and Hakudoshi had to end, and Byakuya would prefer to see it end sooner, rather than later...

Please?

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><p>This family. This family was just-<p>

"You ass!"

"Excuse me?"

This family had issues, and they were not ones Sesshoumaru knew how to predict or counter. Being sworn at over a casual lunch with Kagura was one such surprise. Especially since it came out of nowhere: he could have sworn she'd been flirting with him a minute ago.

"I can't _believe_ you told Rin's family that Bya works for you!" Now hold on.

"That's not even true." The statement, it wasn't even fact so why would she believe he'd said it, nevermind the lie about him sabotaging her brothers? "If I'd wanted to ruin either of them, I'd have mentioned your father." Kagura's eyes did something dangerous, even the infant stopped playing with his crayons and sat up straight in the restaurant highchair.

"You _wouldn't._" Sesshoumaru was always careful about mentioning Naraku Sr., but he felt justified this time.

"Of course not." Because he did not _want_ to ruin his friend or Kagura's brat. He drank some of his coffee while she stewed over her soup. "I mentioned that he worked downtown, _Hakudoshi_ gave the firm name."

"Which I guess they recognized." Of course they had, the two families had been close for years.

"You didn't tell him who your brother works for."

"That's Bya's job, not mine!"

Sesshoumaru's point exactly.

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><p>So it started with simple things like that, purposefully mis-construing events and placing blame where it just didn't belong. Byakuya wasn't willing to play along though, his best friend and his little brother had to work this out on their own: he had nothing to do with it!<p>

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><p>"This is not my fault."<p>

"Like hell it is!"

"It wasn't relevant information."

"Yes it _was!_"

Saturday night, the infant had been put down already and Kagura had left about an hour ago for work. Kanna could have easily gone up to her room to get away from the argument down here, but she chose to stay.

It wasn't the sort of argument that she remembered, there was shouting, yes, and Hakudoshi's voice was _loud, _but Byakuya's was not. There was no throwing things, no tears, and really, no fear. She could just sit on the couch with her sketchbook, the TV on and muted as she watched her brother argue with Kagura's brother.

Hakudoshi's hands were balled up in front of him like he was going to jump on Byakuya, but the lawyer was just standing there with his arms folded, still wearing his jacket and tie from work. He'd only come in a few minutes ago, and Kanna had hoped that he would stay at his office all night again like he sometimes did. As in _really_ stay in his office, not pretend that was what he was doing so he could go off on a date. Maybe Kagura couldn't tell the difference, she didn't see enough of Byakuya throughout the week to pick up on it, but Kanna knew the difference between the lawyer coming home looking like he'd been dragged under a bus and when he walked in looking refreshed and smiling at everything.

"I don't even know who Rin is, you're the only person who's ever mentioned her to me."

"Well that ass was at her birthday!" Meaning Kagura's boyfriend, Sesshoumaru, the one with the deep voice and yellow eyes. The man from the hospital who made Kagura smile...

"Then ask him, not me! My boss has nothing to do with the Higurashi family."

"Your boss is his _mom!_" Kanna looked from her brother over to Kagura's brother, watching as his face didn't change and he just gave Haku a bored look.

"Yes, and what would you like me to do about that?" Quit, move out, go away. Kanna didn't say anything and just scratched a few more lines on the paper in front of her. "Hakudoshi, if I'd known _he_ knew Rin, and that _they_ would know about the firm, then I would have told you. Did you know he was going to be there?"

"No!"

"Well then again: what do you want me to do?"

Haku needed a moment to process everything, but once he had Kanna tried very, very hard not to smile.

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><p>No, really, Bya had nothing to do with any of this. He was not involved, he didn't want to <em>become<em> involved, he just wanted his life to continue along smoothly- was that so much to ask? He wanted to be apprenticed by his boss, go for coffee with his friend, get on well with Hakudoshi, convince Kanna not to hate him, help Kagura around the house and go on dates when he had the chance and there was an opening in his schedule.

He wanted _nothing_ to do with this fight!

Those bastards_... _Bya picked up his phone for a very unhappy call.

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><p>"<em>I'm sorry."<em>

"For what?"

"_Sesshoumaru I'm very, very sorry."_

"...Byakuya."

"_Yes?"_

Sesshoumaru looked at his computer screen again, disturbed now as a minute ago he'd seen the little pop-up saying he'd received an e-mail from Inuyasha. This was unusual, but right now he was looking at the same alert from what he assumed was Izayoi. Not ten seconds later, one arrived from Myoga.

"_Sesshoumaru?"_ Why were these e-mails all forwards with the title _'Photo Album'_? "_Sesshoumaru, say something?"_

Sesshoumaru was reading:

'_Dude, why's your mom sending this stuff out?' -_Inuyasha

_'Sesshoumaru, you should have told me your mother had that picture of you boys camping! Thank you!'_ -Izayoi.

_'Totosai and I both remember that office party, do you? Your father came out dressed like a samurai and scared you right under the table!'_ -Myoga.

These emails had... _pictures_ attached to them. Old pictures, old, scanned images of _Sesshoumaru_ hiding behind his mother at one of his father's former offices, memories of the disastrous time he'd been taken out into the wilderness with his father and the toddler Inuyasha for _'bonding'_, and- baby pictures?

"Byakuya." It was hard to keep his voice level as he spoke down at the phone resting on his desk, the speaker option activated so he could continue scanning through the incoming messages and find the original e-mail. "How did this happen?"

"_He said he was looking something up for school- I swear to GOD he said he needed to look something up for school. I didn't even know he knew **how** to access the office network from my laptop, but he did, and I had no idea. So I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so-"_ Why the hell did Byakuya have _this_ much access to his mother's computer in the first place? Did Kimi just not expect her employees to go through her personal files? And why did she even _have_ these images!

"Shut up." Hang up.

Sesshoumaru just sat there, fuming, at his desk, and resolved that the next time he saw Hakudoshi he was going to run the little bastard down.

In the meantime, he made a call.

* * *

><p>Kagura still thought this was funny, Bya did not find this funny, this was not funny, Kagura, don't laugh like that.<p>

"But it _is_ a little-" No it was not!

* * *

><p>"Onigumo, to the front." Huh?<p>

Looking up from his station by the deep fryer, Hakudoshi blinked as the manager called to him and nodded his head in the direction of the till. The WacDonalds was crowded and noisy on both sides of the counter. The lunch crowd usually wasn't that bad on weekends, but there was a birthday party on the floor today and tourist season was starting up...

So it made no sense why he was being shifted to he front, his English wasn't the best and those damn registers were cursed whenever he touched them. He could do the job alright, but there were faster, friendlier, better people on hand today for it.

Stupid training.

Between the blips and beeps of the register and repeatedly going through the motions of upgrades and picky orders, Hakudoshi hardly had time to look at the faces of the customers streaming through the small fast food restaurant. His patience were wearing thin as he kept _losing_ the buttons he needed on the stupid touch-screen, but he persevered.

"I'm not hungry." Then step out of the line so he could help- "Haku, it's me!" Huh?

_Rin!_

Hakudoshi almost jumped straight out of his skin as he looked up and saw the familiar face he'd spent the last two weeks doing everything to avoid. Bad signs abounded as Rin wasn't holding a wallet with money ready to make an order, the brunette wasn't smiling, and there was a very long line behind her.

"Rin-"

"That's right, it's Rin!" She slapped both hands down on the plastic counter in front of her, pushing up a little like she was going to vault the barrier between them. "I'm so glad you remember!" Why was she here? Why was she yelling at him? "You changed jobs, that's so mean! You used to work at the WacDonald's by the school, now you're all the way over here?" It... hadn't been hard to transfer, WacDonald's was easy to get a new job in once you had a little bit of experience. He just moved to the one next to the trade school he'd been hoping to get in to -not that he _would_- but had not told- "You didn't even tell me!"

"_Onigumo!_" Line, big line, growing bigger-

"I have to work-"

"You didn't go to graduation!" She cried, causing a fuss as her lone pigtail bounced up and down as she stomped her feet like a child. Of course he hadn't gone, after what happened at her birthday party he'd barely wanted to show his face around the _house_, never mind go talk to Rin at school. It had been one of the most embarrassing nights of his entire- "You didn't return my texts and when I asked Karan why you weren't at the party she said you weren't talking to her either! You're such a jerk, Haku!"

"But- you don't even _know_ Karan!" He hadn't been on speaking terms with her since-

"_Well I do now!_" Oh god, she was causing a scene, a big scene-"And I have an even better friend than you too! Someone who actually told me where you were and how you weren't sick or dying or in a transfer to someplace terrible!" The manager wasn't just staring at him, the student-turned-manager was physically behind Hakudoshi and he could feel a terrible aura oozing out of the man's pores. It wasn't the _lose-your-job_ kind but it was very close.

"Rin, my shift ends in half an hour, why don't we-"

"NO! Why don't you keep working here without telling me, and _I'LL_ go get ice-cream with Sesshoumaru-sama!" Wait- who? What the he-

"_O-ni-gu-mo!_" With a glance at his manager Rin was gone, leaving Haku with an angry supervisor, an angrier line-up, and a score to settle as soon as he got off work.

_'That bastard!'_ Sesshoumaru!

* * *

><p>"You're over-reacting." HE WAS NOT. "Well what the hell do you want <em>me<em> to do?" MAKE IT STOP. "Look, it's some weird thing between the two of them, I have nothing to do with it."

Byakuya tried not to laugh, it would have been a cold, sardonic sound, too much like their father's. Kanna was actually there to back him up though, she just stared at her sister with a blank expression for a few minutes, having forgotten the game of '_Chase me!'_ she'd been playing with the now running toddler. Byakuya let his baby brother latch on to his leg without comment, all three of them watching the woman in the middle.

"Alright, _fine._" Kagura couldn't have been stupid enough not to see how she fit in with all of this. "I'll figure something out."

"_Thank you_..." Thank god...

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><p>Finally, it was Kagura's turn to make a phone-call. In fact, she made two. She made them at Byakuya's behest and because Kagome and Inuyasha were becoming concerned. Of course, her boss was convinced it was a spat between Rin and Hakudoshi, the happy couple having no idea who the actual fight was between. So alright, fine.<p>

She ended it.

"_...Kagura?"_ She made the first call at two in the morning, right as she got off work. Hakudoshi sounded half-asleep and utterly confused as he picked up his cell and mumbled into the receiver. Kagura wanted to go home, so she made her demands clear, concise, and in a tone of voice that brooked no argument.

"No food." He had no idea what she was talking about, so Kagura continued. "No breakfast, no lunch, no dinner. I will cook absolutely nothing for you- and neither will Bya. And no laundry either, I will pick your clothes _out_ of the pile and leave them in your room."

"_What? But I-"_

"No food, no clothes. Just how long can you eat WacDonalds before your kidneys shut down?"

He had no answer for her, good boy. And a few hours later...

"Are you awake?" At eight in the morning, the time when anyone in the night-club business was settled down in a deep, restoring slumber. She set her alarm just so she'd be awake enough to make the second call.

"_..."_

"I won't feed you anymore." She started off the same way, not able to see his face change but knowing Sesshoumaru was listening and confused- he held his breath for a moment. "I'll bring you nothing, not a single noodle or one home-made anything."

_"I'm not the one who-"_

"I don't _care_ who started it, Sesshoumaru! No sex either!"

"_Kagura-"_

"None!"

"_..."_ This was actually kinda fun. _"Until?"_

"Until you both kiss and make up. Figuratively."

"_You're ransoming sex for...?"_

"You know I just bought these slinky, sexy little-"

"_-I'm going back to bed."_

"I could send you a picture if you don't believe me."

"_... Give me your address, **then** I'll believe you." _Their address? Huh, she'd never actually given him the new one, had sh-? _"And in exchange, I'll leave the little bastard alone."_

"Hmph, you're such a pair. Do you have a pen?"

There, see? All better.

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><p><strong>I actually really don't like this chapter xD Oh well. Long as it is I do like next chapter!<strong>


	34. Many Memories

**Audiomachine: The Last One. He Lives in You, Alexander Hupertz's "To Love's End".**

**Hello everyone! This chapter really resembles the Kikyo chapter from a while ago, but I kept it anyways because I wanted A) to start working on this again, and B) to resolve some issues I had with later chapters not having enough reader-information about Byakuya.**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Many Memories

Some people have an earliest memory, or a sense of which one in the dusty back of their minds is the most faded with time and therefore most likely the first in a long sequence. Parents clarify for children whether the house with the blue room came before the yellow couch or vice-versa, and friends are on hand to remind you which house party it was you got wasted at and which one ended with whats-his-face sleeping on the front lawn.

Byakuya doesn't know which of his memories stands as his _'first'_, and instead of a faded picture or shoddy film reel he has more of a general sensation, not a sensible image. If he had to pick, his first memory would probably be of screaming.

It's a sensation, a memory imprinted on flesh. It could be him screaming, his mother, his sister, his father, he has no way of telling whose voice it is or what was happening. All he knows is that when he digs that far back all he finds is the screaming. It's physical, not aural or visual, and it's sensible on his skin where the hairs on the back of his neck rise up in alarm, his palms get sweaty and his head starts to spin with nausea. It's not unlike hearing the toddler begin to scream and cry when something's wrong, or recalling himself when a rare bout of anger takes him and his voice comes bellowing out at twice its normal volume.

So he doesn't know who's screaming in his memories, and he makes a point of not looking back that far.

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><p>The next memory is the bus with his mother, noticing that someone's missing.<p>

* * *

><p>After that it's the school he went to in another part of Tokyo, the first time his mother moved them. Years later he asked her how long he was there with the teacher who wore the orange sweater, and for years after that she never told him. It couldn't have been very long though, his memory clears up after the second move, the third school.<p>

* * *

><p>From Tokyo itself they fled to a small town near Osaka, but that was temporary too. He'd been eleven at the time. There was a crooked white fence along the road she used to walk him down to get to school.<p>

* * *

><p>After Osaka it was the air plane, an experience he's more or less forgotten or glossed over with better memories of other flights. Byakuya can't remember if they landed in O'ahu or on another island and took a boat over, he just knows he was sick after so many hours on an plane for the first time, eating whatever that stuff was supposed to be, the red felt compartment humming and jumbling and unable to give him a moment's rest. He still hates flying, but there have been better trips since that first one.<p>

They lived in Hawaii for... another two years. They stayed in a low-income apartment block in Honolulu, the state capitol, and because it was free they spent many hours down on the public beaches in a better part of the city. He learned to like the ocean, with its pale blue face and white sand, the sighing palm trees and sweet-smelling winds. There was pollution too, nets washed up on the water, sometimes dead fish if you got there before the gulls did, but there had been smog in Tokyo and litter in Osaka, and he learned about acid rain in school and figured out all the translations for all the things he'd already known back home.

He still, from time to time, wonders what it would be like to go back for a visit.

His mother was educated, that was how they got into the country to begin with: but her English wasn't so good. They both might have picked up the language faster if they hadn't settled in a building filled with older Japanese tenants. The history of the State didn't appeal to him so much at the time, it's only as an adult that Byakuya wishes he'd asked more questions in Mrs. Kururugi's kitchen about the war she'd lived through, not focused so much on the after-school snacks she gave him while his mother was still at work.

He didn't get to try dried seaweed again until he was in college and it appeared on a campus shelf. He learned not to bring chop-sticks to school in his lunch-bag, but only after several incidents.

His mother took night school to improve and Byakuya- romanized to _Benedict_, shortened to _Ben, _sometimes affectionately known as _Benny,_ slugged it out in the school system. With his fists.

The angry stage didn't last for very long, thankfully. He was delayed in getting out of elementary school because of his reading and writing (his handwriting is _still_ messy in English), but once he turned thirteen he wasn't sorry to see the islands go away. When he saw his mother sitting at the kitchen table one evening, he knew it was time to leave again.

The kitchen is one of the few things he remembers about their apartment in Honolulu. It had a black and white checkered linoleum floor, a deep steel sink set in white counters and a window that looked out into bright white sunlight. And the table. Round, chestnut or something like it, with three chairs- a garage-sale find.

He remembers her sitting at the table, a brown package torn open in front of her. In hindsight he knows she never should have opened it, she knew who it was from, but she did it anyways. Inside was a simple box, and inside that box...

Was a little girl's pink tee-shirt. It was torn and stained, the little fake rhinestones torn off half the rabbit design on the front. His mother didn't let him read the note that came folded up inside with the shirt, but after he watched her cry into the worn cotton for a few minutes Byakuya remembers tearing them both out of her hands. He balled the shirt up and threw it over the edge of the balcony, watching it catch on a telephone pole a block away from their high flat. He tore up the note without reading it, throwing his father's handwriting into the wind.

They moved to the mainland after that. In the weeks leading up to it Byakuya tried everything to get that pink shirt off the pole where it was stuck. He walked by it every day for a month to get to school, his footsteps echoing: _Ka-gu-ra, Ka-gu-ra, Ka-gu-ra..._

* * *

><p>They moved from Hawaii to California. He doesn't remember that plane ride but he knows it was more tolerable than the one from Japan- even if it was no-less exhausting. Culture-shock abounded, his skill with the language increased. But everything got better once they hit the mainland. He was in high school and his mother understood the system better now: she didn't hide the way they had in Honolulu. They hadn't been in Los Angeles for more than two weeks before he saw a police officer speaking to Kaguya, and when they parted she was smiling.<p>

He got used to seeing her smile.

High school. He didn't like girls very much, in fact, as he climbed higher in the grades and pulled together his own group of friends, Byakuya _never_ started to like girls. He just didn't, was that so wrong?

It was. He started cutting gym classes, and when he went he kept his back turned in the change room, refusing to turn around and look at any of the other boys. He was good in every other class though, classmates wondered but he avoided the rumours.

* * *

><p>Byakuya will forever hate his country for origin for exporting and popularizing gay images. Not because he thinks its bad, but because when you're a Japanese boy who <em>is<em> gay, hearing people romanticize about it and make stupid jokes doesn't help settle you down. He didn't even know for sure until a shy, quiet boy at his school was being shoved around in the hallway, the kind of bullying that in the '90s was just part of the high school package. It was bad and teachers would stop it if they saw it, but there was still a sense that the victim probably could have done more to stop it.

No teachers around, no help from the onlookers. It wasn't his problem.

"_What a fag!"_ There was screaming. He can't remember the bully's face, just the way he was shouting. How he laughed._ "Hah! Look, he's crying!"_

Bya _made _it his problem. He took his sore fingers as a symbol of pride afterwards, a badge of honour as he served a three-day suspension for blind-siding someone who'd been busy taking cheap shots at another student.

* * *

><p>A short time later, he can't remember how long, another letter showed up in their mailbox. Bya got there first, ripped the stamp-laden envelope open and hid in his room for a few hours before his mother came home from work. He debated calling the police, he wondered if he should tell her that they'd been found <em>again<em>, but he kept quiet.

Another month went by, he remembers the Valentine's Day decorations spread around the school, how they reminded him of White Day back home. The same hot cinnamon hearts from O'ahu showed up in little bowls in Los Angeles.

He traded red cards with Carlos, the shy boy he'd helped out.

The rumours started.

* * *

><p>Bya changed high schools when he was sixteen. Carlos did too, his family was Mexican and religious and they were convinced that life was hard enough for their son without disturbing rumours and reports of fights after school. The two fell out of touch almost immediately after they changed, Carlos tried calling Bya and Kaguya always passed on the often-missed messages, but he never called back. He won't consider it his first break-up, but it probably counts.<p>

There were a lot of churches near their house, Bya hadn't noticed it until he started paying attention to the news. Hate crimes, pride parades, legislative debates. Their neighbours were mostly Hispanic, almost completely Catholic, but he didn't let it get to him. There were too many upsides to their little bungalow on the hill, he loved it so much more than the apartments of years before.

His mother was a poor cook but their neighbours were friendly, chatty, and liked to swap recipes with them. Bya picked up how to make a mean _chile verde, _freely tossing spices into their rice-cooker to give a kick to his mother's more traditional dishes. She didn't always like the results, but encouraged him anyways. They had friends, more than a couple actually. Neither of them noticed just how many households they knew on the block until the high school rumours started spreading to parents at the dinner table. Word passed through friends at work. The rumours themselves were never confirmed but the subject was: so many friendly faces started turning colder and colder on their street.

"_Forget them. It would _kill_ your father to know you're nothing like him. Make mommy happy and bring home as many boys as you like!"_ He, uh, never really knew whether to feel encouraged or disturbed when his mother tried giving him a pep-talk like that.

So he changed schools. The rumours went away, the bruises healed, the friends didn't come back. When the next letter came he watched Kaguya burn the package without opening it. They put the house up for sale a few months later, leaving the churches and the red-brick high school behind them.

* * *

><p>He graduated with a 4.0 from his second high school. Aced his SATs. He applied for, worked at, and earned whatever scholarships and bursaries were available. His mother carried a mortgage and co-signed on his student loans as he started classes.<p>

He found himself.

She started coughing.

* * *

><p>He still remembers campus, it's more real to him than anyplace before it. No letters ever showed up at his dorm door, no freak packages with Japanese stamps on them or addressed in that jagged handwriting. He remembers the fountain behind the library, the one sitting at the foot of the clock-tower: the one that had a broken bell the first year he attended. He remembers the zig-zag design of the arts complex and the noisy lines for coffee and over-priced sandwiches. He remembers professors' names and the faces of students he took pictures of and laughed with.<p>

He joined the Japanese Students' Association which, unlike the ones in high school, weren't just cleverly disguised manga and anime circles. He'd spoken his mother-tongue progressively less as the years went by, to the point where he knew he'd ribbed his mother for insisting on speaking only Japanese in the house. They straightened him out, so-to-speak, and although he refused to take peer _'lessons'_ to help him re-establish a fluent vocabulary, he did devote some time to teaching second-generation students some of the foundations.

It was good work. He made friends. He started using his real name again, shedding the old colloquialism from Honolulu. Who the hell Romanized _Bya _as _Ben_ anyways? He kept cooking in his (very limited) spare time, and took up origami because he found it settled his nerves.

After a very loud argument over a flamboyantly gay video-blogger from Japan, he came out for the first time to a group. Most people seemed okay with it, the then-President was not one of them. Bya wasn't kicked _out_ of the JSA (he was still both Japanese and a student), but he stopped going. The origami stuck.

Gay marriage was passed in the state of California, it was revoked five months later. He changed his major to Political Sciences and started hanging around the Pride Movement on campus. Not too close, but close enough. He stopped cooking because he was in third year and there was simply no time for it.

He met someone a bit older than him, a grad student. He graduated and applied to law school, following his mother's advice and slowly falling away from the Movement. He still keeps the little rainbow pin in his wallet, but never pulls it out or wears it.

"_That's not what I meant, Bya-"_

_"The real money's in business law, and most businesses don't want a queer lawyer."_

_"Don't say it like that!"_

His boyfriend said the same thing, repeatedly.

Byakuya asked when he would tell his parents they weren't just "room-mates", repeatedly.

* * *

><p>He took a year off and the two of them travelled together. His boyfriend came from money and Bya knew how to manage it a lot better than his partner. They took a road-trip up the west coast to Canada, flew to Europe for three weeks and got hopelessly lost in some small country Bya never did learn the name of. He sent trinkets and letters and pictures back to his mother, never hearing back because there was no way to know where he'd be headed next.<p>

When she finally did contact him, Bya can still remember the blue sky domed over the pale yellow concrete of Tripoli, the endless noise of honking cars down congested third-world streets. There was sand in the air, debris shed by the concrete jungle and picked up by the wind coming off the Mediterranean. Sometimes, when he thinks about it, when he's laying on his bed in the town-house after the kids are asleep and Kagura isn't home yet, Bya can close his eyes and remember the sight of the sea from their hotel window. It was a cheap place to stay, but if you really tried you could look past the power lines and staggered rooftops to the grey-blue expanse just a few kilometres off.

It was hot, like back on O'ahu.

"_Please come home."_ Maybe there was more to the message, the manager of the hotel had bad English and Bya had no French. Calling the US from the Middle East was both expensive and incredibly complicated, it took him two days to finally figure out the mindless string of numbers he had to dial, tearing up several useless phone-cards to make the call go through.

She wouldn't tell him what was wrong, but she sounded weak, she kept coughing. She wanted him to come home. He remembers refusing to cry in the hotel, refusing to be held when they were alone in their room with its separate beds- they always stayed in a room with two beds, but only ever used one. His partner had booked their tickets home before Bya got off the phone with his mother.

He didn't sleep once all the way from Beirut to LA.

* * *

><p>Lung cancer, from smoking.<p>

Or skin cancer, from the California sun.

It was a chicken-and-egg thing, they didn't know which cancer had come first, which one had spread to her stomach and her liver and her kidneys. They just knew it was in her lungs, attached to her spine, maybe even growing in pockets inside her brain. She hadn't noticed the mole on her back, hadn't gone for a physical in years- too expensive. She handed him the insurance paperwork to look over, the blue crest staring up at him from the top corner of the page.

He cried when he heard her say that. _'Too expensive'_ to go for her scans and check-ups. _'Too expensive'_, and yet he'd been gallivanting across Europe.

* * *

><p>Bya almost quit school but neither of them would let him. He took a heavier course-load than he was used to, lost weight, stayed in and drove out to see her whenever he could. The insurance company paid for a home-care assistant, but only for a few months. He spent nights awake in the library, learned how to live off coffee and will away hunger. He was determined to get through as many credits as he could as fast as possible. Chemo wasn't an option, radiation would kill her if she started, but she <em>would<em> see her son a lawyer.

Every time his fingers touched the keyboard, his green laptop madly chattered at him: _KaguraKaguraKaguraKagura._

He hadn't heard it in years, and now her name was following him.

* * *

><p>He blew off Christmas with his boyfriend: four years together and the bastard still told his father they were just friends, still pretended he was a straight all-American white-collar something-or-other. Bya almost moved out of their condo, staying at the library was an excuse not to come home. In fact, when the father came to visit just before finals, Bya <em>did <em>move out. He was told to.

"_Just for a few days?"_

_"Whatever."_

"_I love you?"_

"_I have a paper."_

_KaguraKaguraKaguraKagura..._

Another letter arrived after New Years. He didn't find it until he went home to his mother.

* * *

><p>It wasn't from his father, and that was why he opened it. The address was foreign and the postage showed it was Japanese in origin. It was a formal-looking envelope, like it just had a cable bill inside.<p>

He opened it and inside were two letters- he found out after reading one that they both said the same thing. One was written in formal Japanese, up and down along the page, the other was in crude-but-trying English. He pulled his eyes away from the Latin characters and read their exotic counter-parts instead, making himself recognize the symbols, the sounds, the words.

His father had been arrested back in December. A detective in Tokyo wanted any information his mother could provide about her ex-husband. The charge was murder.

"_Bya?"_

He didn't know what to do with it, the information, the revelation, the relief and the horror. So he hid it. It wasn't something he could just show his mother, not in her condition. He'd moved back home '_for a few days'_ and then just didn't go back to the condo after January classes started. If his partner missed him, he could make the effort to come and visit.

In the meantime his mother signed advance directives, making him her spokesperson and guardian. She didn't tell him about it, he found the envelope with his name on it sitting on his bed one evening after coming home. He read it. They didn't discuss it.

Byakuya finished his last year of law school moving between his old bedroom and his mother's prone form resting on the couch. He started cooking again, but only the recipes she'd taught him: miso soups with whatever was mild, mushrooms and daikon usually, but in the beginning she enjoyed tempura. They moved away from solid foods as winter turned into spring: she couldn't chew the rice without hurting her jaw, she'd just hold the sashimi strips on her tongue without swallowing.

"_You're so good, Kagura."_ It got even harder once the pain pills stopped working, and instead of watching her in agony he watched her simply fade away.

_"Mother?"_

"_My good girl... Kagura..."_

Eventually she just drank clear suimono soup, something he can't eat anymore, something he's never seen Kagura make and will never show her how. By the end it was just a few spoonfuls of miso broth. On the last day it was only hot water.

"_He didn't get you, that's my girl..."_

The morphine caused the delirium, it killed her waning appetite. Morphine and guilt.

"_Kagura... Kagura... Kagura..."_

Her eyes had sunk deep into her head, just black shadows over hollow white cheeks. Skin clung to her skeletal arms and her black hair turned grey as she went months without dyeing it. Her neck was just folds of grey skin reaching down from a narrow jaw and the bumps of her spine. She was tiny, buried under white blankets and quilts, propped up on pillows from both bedrooms. He brushed her hair, he changed her clothes, he took distance courses from the university so he could be at home for as many hours a day as he could.

He relied on the Aid for a few months, then their coverage ran out and Bya couldn't afford to pay the woman out of his pocket. He called friends to come sit with her when he had exams, or needed to go to the store or the pharmacy. Some came, most wouldn't. She lost all of her English and seemed to think they were back in Japan most of the time, he's not sure where they were supposed to be though. Not Honolulu, but maybe Osaka? Maybe the Tokyo apartment? Maybe, back in his father's house?

He wrote to the detective in Tokyo, including an e-mail address which had been absent from the officer's first request. Bya wanted information.

* * *

><p>He was four weeks from the bar exam: he'd scheduled his test for the first available date after his last final. She wouldn't come out of the delirium anymore, the most he could hope for was that his mother would talk to him, and talk to Kagura, and ask why Bya wasn't saying anything to his sister.<p>

* * *

><p>Kaguya died on her couch, in her house, in the middle of the night before he was scheduled to take his exam.<p>

Byakuya knows what happened after that, how he spent the day, the week, the month after. He knows, he just chooses not to think about it.

* * *

><p>They traded e-mails, him and Detective Okami. It had only been once or twice while his mother was sick, but after the fact he had to know. He had to keep asking, keep sending messages. Where was his sister? What happened to her step-mother? What about the step-siblings?<p>

He cashed in his mother's life insurance policy and he sold her home. He already had a condo he was helping pay for- a fifty-fifty split between him and his partner. Bya started researching a few segments of Japanese law because he couldn't get the country out of his head. He poked around in the law, he contacted the university and he discovered a handful of courses on Far East Law he hadn't considered taking in the anxiety surrounding his mother, one of them dealt specifically with the Japanese system.

He took the course, it was extra-curricular and it went on his transcripts and resume. At first it was innocent, a simple train of thought: I can help her. How do I help her? I can send money. Is she already getting money? What kind of support system do they have?

He read case-work and found himself staying up late online looking through the journals he'd subscribed too. He put off trying to line-up a proper job at home because his hours were spent researching foreign cases in a foreign land. Eventually he stopped bothering with translations, spending late nights reading digital texts. He would sit cross-legged on his chair at home with a red-and-blue complex English-Japanese dictionary in his lap, constantly referring to it so he could look up legal terms in both languages.

"_Are you coming to bed?"_

"_Chotto matte..."_

"_...What?"_

He found himself reading some of his mother's old books too. They were mainly textbooks, formal Japanese writing- she'd been a manager at a small bank, they were old economic texts. He found the content difficult to get through but something to keep his mind occupied, something to keep her with him. It cramped his hand to try writing characters he hadn't scribbled since he was a child, but it came back to him with practice.

He didn't hear his sister's name, he just saw that pink tee-shirt fluttering in the wind atop a Honolulu telephone pole.

* * *

><p>He took the Bar and passed, he and his boyfriend went out for drinks to celebrate. They patched things up, made things better... sort of. It was always the same problem between them.<p>

"_I **do** love you."_

"_Then tell him."_

"_I **can't**_._"_

He never did end up coming out. His mother probably knew, and all of their mutual friends, but not the dad, never the dad. Bya still doesn't know why he put up with it- taking down the pictures of them together whenever the family came to visit, dismantling their home office so it could be transformed into a second bedroom. It wasn't until his mother died and the father was in town on business that Byakuya finally put his foot down.

"_Half of this is mine."_ He still remembers the shock on his boyfriend's face when he came home and the office hadn't been packed up in boxes and stuffed up in the loft. The father's plane landed in an hour, Bya still remembers printing out the transcript that morning while running off resumes for himself. _"I pay just as much as you do, I have every right to be here."_

"_No one's questioning that, but you've gotta-"_

"_I'm not lying any more. I won't do it."_ Their bedroom, their bed, their kitchen. It was their grey carpet and black tile, their taste in art and sculpture. It was their sound system, their TV, their mortgage agreement, their _home_. He wasn't going to be pushed around and put on an act in his own _home._

"_Don't do this..."_

It came to shouting very, very quickly. The relationship was over before they even tried working things out. No one can survive in a relationship with threats and ultimatums. He spared his partner that much: the final straw wasn't: _'Clear out the office or I'm leaving you'_, it was: _'I'm moving back to Japan.'_

"_He'll fucking __**disown**__ me if I come out to him! You know this!"_

"_Yes but __**I**__ won't leave you!"_

"_You just said-"_

"_**Marry me!**__"_

The declaration brought silence, long, drawn out and painful. The silence became tears and they both understood what had just happened. He still remembers how hot his skin felt under the green cashmere scarf he'd been wearing, a Christmas gift then five years old. He still had it in his closet until he moved to the town-house with Kagura, it got lost on moving day somewhere in his old apartment.

* * *

><p>Byakuya spent the next two weeks on a friend's couch, he got his stuff out of the condo the day it went on the market and was on a plane to Tokyo a few days later. He left no forwarding address, no new phone-number. His e-mail hasn't changed though. Sometimes, rarely, he gets a message from an old college friend, but mostly his private in-box is left empty.<p>

It wasn't the detective's job to reunite him with his sister, Byakuya knew better than to ask outright, but he did make his intentions clear. Every few weeks he gets a new e-mail, somehow it's managed to devolve from a serious, business-like interrogation back and forth into something almost amiable. They aren't friends, it's just that one e-mail sequence that neither one of them seems to feel they can just let die. Awkward. The man's straight.

Bya'd had a tele-conference with the Zangetsuha legal firm before he left, but it was just round one of what became a series of interviews. He doesn't speak much English anymore, but his fluency was part of what earned him the job- not that he got the job through interviews, it was more complex than that.

* * *

><p>He arrived in Tokyo and started working for a small firm run by an American, picking up the language and law very slowly. They represented tourists mainly, or American Ex-pats who ran into trouble with laws they weren't familiar with. His first contact with Zangetsuha was a court case where Bya was meant to sit at the Defense's desk and take notes, say nothing. The case was fishy on both sides, a divorce case where the question of who was at fault kept being blurred.<p>

After three days of proceedings the Prosecutor stood up again and ran through a familiar line of questions with the witness- her own client. After three days of proceedings Byakuya couldn't help but notice that there was never any point where the Prosecution asked about the video-camera. The footage in question was critical to the case: it showed the American husband in his office inviting in an underaged- ah, well that part wasn't important...

Byakuya remembers flipping through the pale yellow file-folders in front of him, looking for the paper-work surrounding the camera. There was none. Did that make the survailance legal? It couldn't have been: the office was secured space, it violated the privacy of the husband's clients.

"_Sir, the camera wasn't-"_

"_Shh!"_

"_But if you just-"_

"_Shut up!"_

His boss threw him out of the court-room, or rather the judge did but only after his boss was called on the chatter going on at their desk, _then_ Bya was ejected. He stood outside the doors in the Tokyo Court House and after another forty minutes the case was adjourned. They lost.

"_Don't you __**ever**__ embarrass me like that in court again!"_

"_Sir, they've avoided mentioning the circumstances around-"_

"_I don't care!"_

"But the camera-"

He was fired on the spot, and stood there in a daze long after the chubby, red-faced Ex-Pat he'd worked for waddled out of the court house. Bya doesn't remember how long he loitered there for, but eventually he found a bench to collapse on and feel bad for himself. Money wasn't the issue, his career was.

"_What about the camera?" _He was so out of it he didn't even hear the sound of her high-heels striking the marble floor, barely registered the violent orange of her blazer and straight pin-stripe trousers. He looked up at the attorney for the wife- the woman who'd been keeping two Malaysian '_maids'_ in her basement without food and water, and wasn't sure why her lawyer was wearing sunglasses inside.

He was so disheartened that Byakuya didn't even care that he was stabbing his former boss in the back. He didn't stand up, didn't bow or try to shake hands, he didn't even straighten his tie where he'd tuggled the knot loose under his chin: the navy blue had been choking him all day. He just answered her question.

"_...It doesn't remove the footage, but if you keep it in as evidence it's proof of corporate espionage."_

"_And how do you know that?"_

"_I've spent three days listening to you **not** talk about how it got there."_

She told him his Japanese was messy, he repeated the fact that he'd had three days to listen to her.

She told him to go fetch her a cup of coffee. He came back with two creams and no sugar, smooth and bitter. She found out he was American but from Tokyo originally, he told her what he knew about her client's other case regarding the Malaysian '_maids'_, and when she climbed into the back of her sleek, low-riding black Aston Martin _Rapide_, she looked up at him over the rims of her sunglasses, her gold-green eyes stark under the platinum white of her hair.

"_What did you say your name was?"_

A week later, he was working at Zangetsuha.

Six months after that, he bought a town-house with his sister.

* * *

><p><strong>There... wasn't any <em>plot<em> movement in this chapter but I've wanted to write it for several months now. It's a bit of an information dump but there hasn't been too much serious stuff for Bya, and he's not meant to be _completely_ comic relief.**

**Hawaii and California have two of the largest Japanese American populations, Honolulu is the state capitol and largest city in Hawaii, located on the island of O'ahu. Tripoli and Beirut are two major cities in Lebanon, a country _I_ have been to, so I know that there's no flying out of Tripoli, you have to fly from Beirut (and Tripoli's nicer than Beirut so bleeh!). ****I like the idea of Byakuya being someone who's seen a chunk of the world, since it helps give him a better perspective from which to approach Kagura and the kids. **

**Currently sorting out chapters 41 and 42, so there're still 6 more updates to look forward to after this one.**


	35. I Don't Care

**Before the Dawn, Candy Pop, You'll Be In My Heart, Can't Breathe.**

**Written hopelessly out of order while I was puttering around with chapter 31.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

I Don't Care

"_Go out with me tonight."_

"Eh? Can you really leave Tokijin alone-?"

_"I'm not going to work tonight. Go out with me."_

Kagura blinked her attention away from the spice-rack in front of her, ignoring the cook-book propped up on the kitchen counter and balancing her cell on her shoulder. Listening to Sesshoumaru as she stirred the sizzling contents of her pan on the stove-top, Kagura found herself smiling.

"I'm in the middle of cooking dinner, do you want me to pack some up?"

"_No, I'm taking you out. Wear something nice."_ Pfft, what a jerk. "_I'll pick you up in an hour?_"

"Mm, a little more than that."

"_An hour."_ And then he hung up on her.

Kagura swore and snapped her phone shut, sliding it into the pocket of the white apron she had on over her practice clothes. She checked the clock over the stove and swore again: six thirty? Was he insane?

Finish making dinner, feed siblings, feed baby, take shower, find clothes, call Bya, go back to finding clothes, obsess over what Sesshoumaru's version of '_something nice'_ was supposed to be- doorbell.

"Damn him!"

Had he meant nice as in formal nice? Nice like comfy and good looking? Should she have been looking for a dress and heels or something else? In one hour Kagura managed to put a lacy red bra and the matching underwear, but aside from that she'd just thrown on an old (clean) tee-shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants she sometimes wore to work. Her hair was still wet, not brushed, and held up over her head with a pencil twisted and stuck through the red-black tangles.

So that was how she answered the door at seven-fifteen, and Kagura sure as hell didn't give a damn that Sesshoumaru seemed very confused and a little bit put-off by face she _'greeted'_ him with.

"You said an hour!" She accused, hissing the words _without_ inviting him into the house. If Kagura hadn't known Sesshoumaru's face _so_ well, she would never have known that he was dangerously close to smiling at her. But no, it was not funny- don't _fucking _smile at her right now! "Where the hell are we going anyways? _'Wear something nice' _that could mean anything!"

"I quite like this effect." What effect? The not-ready-to-go-out look? "Is that a pencil?" _Idiot!_ Kagura reached up and yanked the stupid yellow stick out of her hair. She was tempted to chew on it when Sesshoumaru stepped forward and caught her chin with his hand, his lips moving down over hers before Kagura could do more than close her eyes and make a soft noise in her throat.

Someone was in a good mood.

"Sesshoumaru?" He let her go after that, but didn't step away. Kagura was positive she'd felt him smiling against her mouth, and even as she looked up at him her boyfriend was visibly struggling to keep his lips from stretching into a grin. "What's going on?"

"Tell me you can come out tonight." Of course she could, she just wasn't- "Then lets go."

"What! I'm not even dressed yet, we can't-" Sesshoumaru kissed her again, Kagura's toes starting to curl before he pulled back too soon and looked down at her. She just licked her lips and tried to understand what he was _not _saying, because he was trying to convince her of something. Kagura could only stare up into his yellow eyes and wonder how many more of those kisses she could get out of him before he broke and just said it out-loud.

He knew her siblings were just inside the house. They both knew there was a very good chance that Hakudoshi would appear in the next thirty seconds and bark at Sesshoumaru to get away from her, or that Kanna would sneak around a corner and snatch a glimpse of the boyfriend she heard more about than ever saw. This wasn't the place to just stand around and trade kisses.

"I don't care." That was all Sesshoumaru had to say before he put his arm around her waist this time, Kagura mumbling that she hadn't switched her stuff around between her backpack and purse yet- she barely got the words out before his tongue twisted itself around hers and made her stop talking. A warm tingle ran down her thighs and made her legs shake as he breathed over her face, smiling. "Then bring the backpack and we'll go to a drive-through. Kagura, I do not care."

He was in a weird mood. It was strange and he was being really, really touchy as Kagura turned around to grab her backpack off the floor, it was sitting in the same place where she always dropped it after coming home. She shouted over her shoulder that she was leaving now, hearing Hakudoshi's terse voice and watching Kanna appear from her hiding spot in the hall. With a smile and a wave Kagura quickly followed her boyfriend outside and shut the door behind her.

It was late March, it was spring time, it was getting close to Hakudoshi's birthday but Kagura was more interested in the fact that it wasn't too cold anymore and it wasn't raining as much. Sesshoumaru's sedan was waiting for them in the town house's little drive way, Kagura pulling a brush out of her back-pack so she could finally do something about the damp tangles trailing down her back. She reached for the door handle but, again, Sesshoumaru cut in front of her and she found her boyfriend's face pressed against hers, his hand behind her head and his touch working down along her neck.

"What the _hell_ has gotten into you tonight?" It was scary but it was good, seeing him this happy as she gave him a little shove with her hand but kept her forehead tilted up against his. It was hard not to laugh a little, too many bright lights flashing behind her eyes.

"Get in the car."

"Get out of my way?" Another kiss for her comment. Kagura's lips were already feeling tender and red and her boyfriend finally slid away, finally letting her climb in through the passenger's side door. She tossed her backpack into the seat behind hers and watched the smile fail to leave his face as she sat down next to him, Sesshoumaru still trying in vain to hide whatever was making him so _giddy_ as the engine started and they pulled away. Kagura just worked her brush through the half-dry snarls and tangles in her hair, ignoring the fact that while he was still dressed in a business suit for work, she was sitting in sweat-pants and a shirt she either slept or danced in.

"Tell me what's going on."

"Not yet. Are you hungry?"

"If I say yes, will you explain?" The answer to that was a breath out through his nose that sounded _so much_ like a laugh, but he managed to keep it just a breath, not a chuckle. Folding her arms once her hair was reasonably under control, Kagura kicked her feet up onto his car's dashboard- something she knew he'd hate, because it was his car and the dashboard was not a footrest and blah blah blah. But he didn't respond, he didn't even _acknowledge_ it.

"I swear, when my boyfriend finds out you've kidnapped me he's gonna be _so_ pissed." _That_ got his attention.

"Excuse me?"

"Whoever you are, with your laughing and your smiling and your touchy-feely kisses at my front door, Sesshoumaru won't spare you just because you got the handsome part right." They kept driving until they found a main road, Sesshoumaru still fighting with his face as he sped up a little and found his barrings in the city. He glanced at her briefly where Kagura still had her arms folded and feet up, swishing one foot back and forth over the other, letting the light play off the faux ruby set on the toe of her black shoes.

"Handsome. But you're saying you don't enjoy the touching?"

"Oh, I like it." She answered quickly, meeting his gaze before making a sharp gesture to get his eyes back on the road. Kagura couldn't help but grin, tracing the same finger over her lips once she was satisfied with his driving. "It's just not like you, that's all."

"I have a reason."

"You'd better!" She answered loudly, giving him a look that wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. "I look like a mess and you look like someone's tickling you over there!"

"I am not ticklish." Oh, what? Kagura didn't even answer, waiting for Sesshoumaru to look at her again and lifting one eyebrow at him. His smile instantly fell and her boyfriend turned his green-toned gaze back onto the road. "Not entirely." There we go, that was the stiff son-of-a-bitch she knew.

"_Right_..." Just continuing to needle him with her eyes, she almost expected him to start wiggling in his seat to get away from her. Satisfied with his discomfort, she went back to smirking out her window.

Not _ticklish_, who did he think he was talking to? Kagura knew full well that Sesshoumaru didn't like touching people because of the whole pride and attachments and cooties thing he had going on, but that was just a side-effect. The fact that a single touch any place on his body would start that itchy, electric reaction so many people loved and hated at the same time was _definitely_ a factor. She'd hardly noticed it when they'd begun dating the first time, they'd really only touched once the evening wound down. She also hadn't had the time to notice it on the first night they'd spent together.

But since they patched things up? It was impossible to miss. Kagura had spent too many evenings up in his office in the Tokijin _not_ to notice that her boyfriend would start getting unbearably twitchy if she hugged him for too long. She'd tested her theory through pinches, pokes and love taps, and it didn't matter where she did it, how hard, or really for how long, because whether he noticed it or not the stoic, uncaring man beside her would always end up scratching or rubbing the itch that overcame him. He was intensely ticklish, and it was a secret he'd probably defend with his life.

Kagura smiled as she watched the silence stretch between them, letting Sesshoumaru make a point of reading road signs and minding the sparse traffic around them. It only occurred to her in that moment that they, for once, weren't driving into the city core. Sesshoumaru had put them on a main road but not one of the traffic arteries that led through Tokyo's heart. It was why she saw him glance around and shift lanes several times, because wherever they were going he didn't seem convinced of the route.

"Where're you taking me?" No answer, so it was like an open invitation: "You're lost."

"I am not lost." She grinned and- "If you feed me some line about asking for directions, Kagura, I'll hold-off on answering your question indefinitely." Jerk. She wanted to know what was going on!

"_Fine._" Tightening her folded arms, she stuck out her tongue at him and let him keep driving, watching the world go by out the car windows until he finally made an approving sound in the back of his throat. They pulled out of traffic and...

"This a liquor store!" Why were they here? And why was he getting out-?

"Read this. Check the math." A folded sheet of paper was placed in her lap before Sesshoumaru's nose and lips brushed over her cheek, his breath warm down the side of her throat. "I'll be right back."

"'Kay..." Well, that sounded weak. Kagura swallowed the breathless sound, glaring at him as he heard her reaction and gave a more natural, condescending smirk at her. Male pride and all that junk, he left her behind and vanished inside the store, Kagura unfolding the paper he'd given her before rushing off.

Numbers? This looked like... a budget statement, a list of numbers and yen symbols, complete with decimal points and a few very simple percentages. Kagura found a pen in Sesshoumaru's glove compartment, but by the time she'd clicked it and was ready to write her eyes were already trained on the numbers, values clicking away in her head- and in time with the pen, since she started thumbing the little spring-button to keep track.

Negatives and positives, this was probably something from the Tokijin, but Kagura kept reading and clicking until she finally got to the total at the bottom. Her number was off by several points in the decimals, but no one really cared about those. The whole value was almost exactly what was already printed on the page.

"So what's this all about?" She asked the question before Sesshoumaru was properly back in his seat, ready for the kiss this time and accepting the paper-wrapped bottle he handed her. Once he stopped wrestling with his nose against hers, Kagura settled back into her seat and checked what was in the bag.

Champagne?

"Hey- Hey! Put those down!" Almost slapping his hand as Sesshoumaru held his key over the car ignition, he looked at her and blinked twice, his own way of asking what was wrong. Kagura even went so far as to actually snatch the keys away, watching his face change to outright shock at her bold behaviour. "I checked the math, the total's right, now what the hell is this for?" It had to be what he was celebrating, but Kagura still had no idea what _exactly_-

"Profits." Huh? She stared at him, Sesshoumaru looked surprised that he'd even said the word, then he bowed his head as she heard another strangled laugh try and kick it's way up his throat. "Tokijin's first profits."

"Wait, you mean...?" Tokijin made money, Sesshoumaru had explained it in bits in pieces to her over the last several weeks. The club made enough money to cover most of its own expenses, but Sesshoumaru was living off the memory of his sold condo and a few maxed-out credit cards. To actually put money in his hands Tokijin would have to make enough in one month to not only cover all of its immediate costs- wages, booze, food, electricity, and water- but put in payments on all of its long-term expenses: taxes, mortgage, renovations, equipment, etc. It was only after _all_ of those costs were covered that Sesshoumaru could pick up the remaining pennies off the floor and put them in his own pocket.

"These... are profits?" He didn't answer her, but he couldn't get his head down far enough to block his smile- his _grin_. The money on the page wasn't a _lot_, it was only a few thousand yen. It would be his rent for the month, or a credit card payment, but it was money he hadn't had before today, it was cash he'd earned. Tokijin was making _real_ money! "Sesshoumaru!"

It was so awkward to move around in the front seat, but Kagura got her arms around her boyfriend's neck and squeezed him until it hurt, laughing over his ear as Sesshoumaru cursed at her to get off so he could drive them home. Not her home, _his_ home, and Kagura only relented enough so that she could lay a kiss over his mouth, her tongue between his lips as he laughed and pulled her closer.

And that was why he'd taken a different route to get around with her. Sesshoumaru had come straight from Tokijin to Kagura's house, but from her complex to his apartment he'd become completely disoriented. She'd never seen the place before, it was a lot like his condo in that they just _didn't_ talk about where he lived. She knew he was renting, she knew it wasn't a building but rather a house with a land-lord, but that was honestly all Kagura was aware of.

"This is the place?" She didn't expect to end up on a quiet suburban lane with him, Sesshoumaru parking on the street outside a small two-story private home- what she assumed was his land-lord's car taking up the only spot in the cramped driveway. It wasn't a bad part of town, on the contrary the neighbourhood at first glance reminded her of the place where she'd grown up. It was maintained a little better though, no trash in the gutters and, obviously, no haunted house looming on the corner.

"It's horrible." He answered, standing beside her with a dampened mood as she looked from the house back to him. Kagura just snorted and gave him a playful shove.

"It's just someplace to sleep and shower, right?" The way he looked at her almost asked if that was really _all_ a home was for, Kagura escaping with her back-pack, their dinner, their champagne, and his precious balance all held in her arms before he could grab and kiss her again. "C'mon! How do we get in?"

Sesshoumaru led her around the back of the house to a locked basement door, letting them in without any intense pauses or moments of stunned revelation. He also turned on a _light_ as they stepped down onto the concrete floor and kicked off their shoes, Kagura knocking the door shut with her ankle before she scooted past him and into the small one-bedroom flat.

The flat was one big room with a kitchenette and a sitting area with a nice, modern-looking leather couch sitting in the middle, a door to the bathroom and another one she assumed led to the bedroom finished off the layout. The walls were plain white, the floor covered with pale yellow lino that didn't look _hideous._ The counter-top was a speckled green with cabinets that matched, a window over the sink that gave Sesshoumaru a great view of the house's fence. The carpet in the living part of the room was grey and blue. There were no decorations, no pictures on the walls, just some cardboard boxes of still un-packed belongings sitting in a pile over in the corner. He didn't have a television and there was just a desk shoved against one wall where his laptop was docked.

Was she really the only break he had from work? Was Sesshoumaru her only distraction from family? Well whatever, because Kagura found herself laughing as she set their food down on the glass dining table that, she assumed, had come from the condo along with that expensive-looking couch.

"This place is a _dump!_" She teased, picking a discarded tie off the back of one chair and glancing around at all the business papers strewn about, unopened mail stacked in piles around the place, a heap of dishes in the sink. Thankfully, he didn't cook so there was nothing creepy crawling around over the counters, no bizarre stains on the floor or walls. While Kagura laughed at him Sesshoumaru just tossed his grey jacket over the blue one wrinkled over the back of his couch. It almost reminded her of Hakudoshi's room, just spread over the entire apartment.

"What is it with men and being messy?" She cooed, letting Sesshoumaru get rid of the sling around his left arm before she looped the tie she'd found over his head, tugging him down for a greedy kiss that ended with his bottom lip caught gently between her teeth. Kagura grinned up at him and coiled her arms around his neck, pressing her chest against his as Sesshoumaru set a heavy kiss over her mouth, his good hand slipping down her side to grasp her hip, then further down to grope her backside.

"Don't talk about chores." His fingers squeezed through her sweatpants and Kagura laughed again, working her lips free from his as Sesshoumaru pulled her away from the table, walking her backwards and keeping a firm hold on her so she couldn't trip. He was so warm, she could feel it straight through their clothes.

"Aw, no maid-talk?" Breathing the words over his ear as she pulled the tie out of his silver hair, Kagura preferred having it down when they were alone. It was like how she thought his arm looked better when it wasn't pinned up in that sling. "My boyfriend's a successful business man, he deserves the best."

"That's why you're here, _Kagura._" Oho? And what was that supposed to mean, exactly? It was hard to think around his lips and tongue moving up and down the side of her neck, Kagura gasping with her hands in his hair as he pinned her against the wall. "The best part of my day..."

"Don't flirt." She blurted the words out as his hand pulled down on the waistband keeping her pants up, Kagura shimmying her hips to help him along. "Even if you mean it-" It was weird, hearing him flirt with her. Sesshoumaru didn't use lines and flattery when they were together, he didn't need them to get her into bed. It was nice being with someone who never tried to handle her.

They weren't going slow, Sesshoumaru crushing her mouth again and pushing her shoulders back against the cool wall. She gasped against his lips but pulled him back when he tried moving away from her, kicking away the sweatpants tangled around her ankles and hooking one of her legs behind his. Sesshoumaru answered her with a grunt and pulled his lips off of hers, sliding his face past her cheek until his forehead was pressed against the wall behind her, his nose against her ear and breaths hot on her neck.

She could feel him between her legs, sense the heat pouring off him through his shirt as she held his shoulders tight. That smell of him, that deep sensual musk that just radiated through his body, Kagura pressed her nose against his throat and just breathed it in, giving her swollen lips a break. Their hips rocked together gently as he caught his breath and Kagura kept her eyes closed, her heart refusing to slow down.

Had he stopped? No, his hand was under her shirt, but his fingers had stopped kneading her breast. His touch slowly drifted until he was holding her side under his wide hand, gently rubbing the smooth, warm flesh under his palm.

"_Sesshoumaru..?_" It felt wrong to speak too loudly, so she whispered instead. Kagura kept one arm looped over his shoulder, the other one moving until her fingertips found the side of his face, stroking the hot, perspiring skin slowly. Was something wrong?

"I love you." What-? "Kagura, I-" Her eyes slid open as he pulled his hand away from her, carefully moving his arm around her back without invading her shirt again. He pulled her closer in a different way now, not trying to pin her in place with his body, not searching lustfully for her skin or teasing to make her moan and scream. It was a hug, warm and secure, something that kept her blood moving but let her heart slow down just a little. Sesshoumaru didn't move from where his forehead was still pressed against the wall, but Kagura curled her arms around his back and waited. He _loved_ her?

"I am going to make Tokijin work." He said the words in such a low voice, the baritone sound moving through her chest and making her shake a little. "I will make it a success, Kagura. And once I've done that I'm going to want more." More? Another business? She felt him moving until his face was down in the curve of her neck, Kagura's eyes sliding shut as she felt him take a deep breath against her skin. No, he wasn't talking about money. "Kagura, I love you and I want _more._"

Sesshoumaru uncurled his arm from behind her and Kagura let her hands slowly fall from his back, fingertips pinching the sides of his pressed white shirt so they didn't lose him completely. His one hand moved up until it was over her shoulder, then the weight shifted closer to her throat. He stopped with his palm between her neck and shoulder, one finger up and just lightly grazing her jaw. Sesshoumaru had moved just far enough away that his nose was hovering next to hers, his green-gold eyes focused down until he finally just looked at her, and Kagura's throat felt tight, choking her.

_'He loves me.' _There were words, but they were stuck. She couldn't get them up and she felt herself shaking, pinching her lips and then letting them fall open, standing there staring at him with her tongue flickering behind her teeth. Kagura couldn't look away from his eyes, and when she thought she saw something change in them, thought maybe there was a flash of something like rejection, something like hurt or fear, she felt her hand jump and quickly pressed her fingertips over his mouth. She told him not to say anything, because she was still trying.

"I..." She stared at her hand over his lips and couldn't pry her eyes away for a moment, pinching her own lips tightly. It was hard to speak, it was hard to make the words come. "I- I can't..." She felt his lips part under her fingers and all the breath come rushing out of him. "Stop that- _shut up!_" His reaction forced Kagura to put her foot down, actually stomping on the floor once before she twisted her hand and pressed her palm down over his mouth, smothering his breath and giving her a burst of anger to push through the burn in her eyes. "I can't _leave_ my family."

Her chest hurt, like he was squeezing her ribs together despite the fact that Sesshoumaru was hardly touching her anymore. Kagura clenched her teeth but her jaw was still shaking, a raw ache in the back of her throat making it hard to breathe, worse to swallow, impossible to speak. Her eyes were itching madly, her vision shaky as tears built up and tried desperately not to fall. Sesshoumaru was watching her but then she felt him shake his head, his hand leaving her shoulder and taking her wrist, his eyes closed as he pulled her hand away from his mouth.

"That's not what I meant." He was still shaking his head right up until he kissed her, his eyes closed and his lips just catching hers for a moment before she felt a sob kick its way out of her chest.

"I can't leave them-"

"_Kagura._" She couldn't stop the words, it had hurt so much to put them together, but it was like a dam came down with that one sob, several more spilling out past her lips, jumbled up between the words.

"I have to be there with Kanna because she doesn't have a mother-" She closed her eyes and felt his warm fingertips touch her cheek, his skin stroking hers. "And I-_I_ didn't have a mother, but I figured it out and I can't make her go through it like that!" Her voice wasn't loud but Kagura wasn't whispering either, the words tumbling out as she closed her eyes. She could feel all the stress she always controlled come rolling up over her tongue. "A-and Bya's a good guy but he- he's just not around- he's got _work!_ I have to be there for Hakudoshi because he'll just- he'd _freak out_ if he thought he had to support everyone!" Yes her brother and her boyfriend had problems, but no, that didn't mean either one was less for it. Anxiety wrapped itself around her body and squeezed painfully, her hands up on Sesshoumaru's shoulders and rubbing anxiously, begging him to stay where he was and not walk away from her.

"The baby doesn't _have_ anyone, he doesn't have anyone without me! Haku's just a kid, he has to live, he has to go to school! A-and Kanna's just his sister, she's just a little girl I mean she can't-_!_" A hoarse sound speared the back of her throat, Kagura's eyes flickering open and then shut again as she fell back until she was leaning on the wall again. She had a hand over her mouth in case she started to scream, but instead she just felt something pounding in her gut trying desperately to get out. She opened her eyes, saw him looking at her and just shook her head wildly, flinging hair and tears everywhere.

"I love you and I can't_ be_ with you!" She sobbed, her voice not her own, but the words bleeding out of her chest definitely were. "I can't move in with you- we'd never be alone- I can't leave them and I'd never _forgive_ myself if I did! There's no more of me! Sesshoumaru- I can't- I can't give- there's _no more_...!"

"_That's not what I meant..._"She felt his forehead touch hers, calming the nausea in her stomach, forcing her to break from her tirade and just cry. Her voice was high and sharp, rattling her lungs as she tried to breathe. Sesshoumaru coaxed her face against his shoulder and Kagura let herself cling to him, wiping her tears off on his shirt just to have more hot lines well up and spill down her cheeks. He didn't shush her and he didn't say anything, his face touching the top of her head and his breath feathering down through her hair. She felt his arm around her shoulders and rubbing her right arm gently. Then his hand fell and settled on the small of her back, his face moving around until he touched his lips to her left temple.

He didn't say anything, just nuzzled her until Kagura made herself pry her face off his wet shoulder. He didn't kiss her, just used his arm and the rest of his body to slowly make her turn. His foot moved ahead of her, taking advantage of his longer stride to nudge the bedroom door open: they'd never made it out of the kitchen.

She didn't go in right away, and Sesshoumaru didn't force her. There was a wooden dresser resting against one wall that was remarkably bare, more boxes stacked outside the open closet. A white lamp sitting on the dresser had an old bulb in it, orange light spilling around the room to make it look softer than it probably was; just a square white box with a bed in it. The same bed? She couldn't tell just by looking at it. No headboard, just a white comforter with a red honey-comb pattern on one corner, all spread over pale sheets. She hadn't actually seen his bedding or too much of his room back in the condo- too dark.

Curiosity and the fact that she was clinging to his good arm made Kagura walk inside. The carpet was plush under her toes, soft as she walked through the warm light with Sesshoumaru at her back. Her wrist and his sleeve were wet now from wiping so many tears away, Kagura jumping when she saw movement and then noticed the full-length mirror tucked behind the door. He walked her over to the bed and then carefully had her turn again, kissing her forehead as she changed from holding his right arm to grasping his left wrist in her hands.

"Take this." He took one of the two large pillows from the head of the bed and offered it to her, implying a trade for his lame arm. Kagura didn't want to let go, but the pillow smelled like him and she sniffled and dried her tears off on the soft material. She held it tight with both hands, the cushion large enough to rest over her bare thighs and cover her chest, plush enough to push back against her arms. Sesshoumaru left the room without a word, but then he came back.

He was carrying the bag with the take-out containers holding their dinner. He left a second time without saying anything and she heard him shuffling about in his kitchen, the clink of glasses and a lost pop from the champagne bottle. They were supposed to be celebrating tonight, not... _this_...

"I'm so sorry..." She mumbled the words without looking at him as Sesshoumaru returned for the last time, his one hand skillfully holding two short, round glasses and the open bottle of sparkling wine. He set all three glass pieces down next to their unopened food, but Kagura wasn't watching him anymore. She'd cried and now she was exhausted... she was broken and exhausted.

From where she was sitting Kagura could just see herself in the reflection of that mirror propped up against the wall. It mostly showed her the dresser and lamp, but she could see her bare legs hanging over the edge of the soft bed- it was the same bed, same mattress anyways. She was half-naked and tear-stained, clutching a pillow to her face and chest, sitting on her boyfriend's bed. He'd picked her up with wonderful news, he'd brought her back to his place and he'd told her that he loved her. He. Loved. Her. And her response was to burst into hysterical tears.

"_I'm so sorry..."_ She pressed her face back into the pillow, hugging the now-warm cushion with all her strength trying to make the sick feeling go away. It was only when she heard the sound of fabric hissing over skin that Kagura looked up again, and she didn't know how to react when she saw Sesshoumaru standing next to the bed without a shirt. "Wh... what are you..?"

"Suits are for work." He hung his tear-stained shirt up over the mirror she'd been watching herself in, and then without warning Sesshoumaru unzipped his pants and dropped them to his ankles.

Kagura knew she was staring and that she should stop, but regardless of having seen Sesshoumaru naked before, and despite the fact that he was _still_ in his boxers, her eyes couldn't leave him. It was less about the look of his skin in the soft light, less about the way his left arm looked when compared directly to the healthy right, it wasn't even the look of his silver hair flowing free down his back. It was how casually he just stripped right in front of her, like it was the most natural thing in the world.

And then he pulled on a pair of white sweat-pants, the sort that tucked in around the ankles and ballooned out a little around his legs. He re-dressed in front of her and that natural feeling didn't go away. That sense that what she was watching was okay. It was a strength and a comfort to watch him pour the champagne into the two glasses he'd brought with him, no crystal flutes or round wine glasses for them, just squat glass cups. He handed her one and then took up his, sitting down on the bed next to her. You were supposed to toast before drinking champagne, but Kagura didn't tap her glass against his.

"We aren't still...?" Tonight? After all of that? The bed was nice, but...

"No." He didn't look mad at her, didn't seem disappointed. "But you're spending the night." Here with him. "I'll drive you home in the morning so you can go to work, or I'll just take you myself." Kagura studied his face, saw the way the soft light picked out the sweeping scars on his cheek, tempted to touch them but not bold enough after her tears and sobbing. No anger, not disgruntled, not frustrated, maybe not even surprised.

"I... I ruined your perfect night." She looked down at the glass in her hands, the gold drink sparkling as the bubbles rose and danced. "I'm sorry I just-"

"Stop saying that." Kagura pinched her lips as he interrupted, "Are you willing to stay here with me? All night, Kagura?" She'd never spent a full night with him before. They'd had _long_ nights at the Tokijin, but there was no place to sleep there. They'd had their night at his condo the first time, but that had ended in catastrophe. This time... this time things had started off so well, and then just come apart... was that the note she wanted to end on?

"Yeah..." She nodded and looked at him. She saw... satisfaction, it was in his eyes, curling his lips and warming his face in a way she just wasn't used to. "Yeah, I'll stay."

"Then drink to that." He lifted his glass, but didn't knock it against hers, just left it suspended in the air between them. Kagura had to ask...

"Why?" Why was he okay with just having her around? He couldn't be alright with her just going to pieces like that, not after what he'd said to her. Not after what she'd said to him.

"Because I don't care about anything else tonight, Kagura." There was a fragile tink as their glasses touched, and then a delicate sound as she sipped the sweet wine and pursed her lips together in vain.

"I think I'm gonna cry again.._._" She couldn't believe this...

"I don't care..." But he could. And there was something right about that. "Just _stay_..."

So she did.


	36. Sesshoumaru, March 21st

**Can't Breathe, Through My Eyes.**

**Hey guys! Haven't made much progress on chapter 42 yet but at least I have a few weeks.**

**I'm quite fond of this chapter so I'm sure those of you who've been craving a bit more Sesshoumaru/Kagura romance will appreciate it. Happy reading, see you next week!**

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><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Sesshoumaru, March 25th

In the movies, the words "I love you" are almost always followed by some intense confession and heat-of-the-moment vows. In the movies the admission of love is a string of cute words that sound good on paper, better on screen, but probably leave too many romantic leads waking up the next morning with a lot of swearing and back-peddling to do. The trade off there is that, in the movies, there's usually a fade-out that implies something even more regret-worthy than telling the girl you just saved the free world for that you think she's hot.

Waking up in bed with Kagura isn't like any of that, at least not for Sesshoumaru. At the very least she's still asleep as he cracks his eyes open, so he doesn't feel like he should wake her up to confer about last night.

She cried a lot after he brought her home. A _lot._ Arguably too much, but somehow he can't find any frustration or bitterness to tell him that this is bad. She started crying after he, finally, said the three magic words that every romance novel and happy ending hinges on. Kagura then fell to pieces giving him a hysterical run-down of all the reasons why her being in love with him was a bad thing. He found this rewarding.

Somehow, he finds her mis-givings and heartfelt attitude more endearing than the usual "I love you (too)." exchange, because by now Sesshoumaru knows that Kagura doesn't break down over new ideas and sudden revelations. No. The only way to get his girlfriend to cry is to pick a topic she's already ruthlessly explored in her own mind, a concept that she's already considered and dissected and pulled apart in the most traumatic manner. If you take one of those set-ups, or scenarios, or hypothetical conditions and you break them open in front of her to take a look, then the only thing you can do after that is hear what she has to say and then wait for her to calm down on her own.

So she's thought about this already. Kagura really must be in love with him.

_'Still jumping to conclusions, but still mine.'_ The thought makes him smile, just a little bit, but more than he has since moving into this stupid little apartment with its low ceilings and ugly kitchen. There's a window in the bedroom with a set of blinds and no curtains keeping the view from the Landlord's little patio to an absolute minimum. But there's also light coming through and shining on the white bedding, lighting up the entire room.

Last night Kagura cried a lot, but she also laughed and drank her champagne with him. The bottle was too small and too cheap for them to get drunk off of, but they ate their greasy take-out on his bed and the containers are spread somewhere on the floor out of sight. Last night there was kissing, and there was touching, but there were too many tears for much more than that. Sesshoumaru had refused to discuss any more serious topics until she agreed to go to sleep, and even if she blushed at first Kagura still curled up next to him under the sheets and fell asleep like that.

For someone who isn't used to sharing a bed, waking up next to Kagura is a little bit like a dream. It's nice and warm, but there's also this sharp jolt that comes when you realize there's another thing breathing next to you, or that the blanket has a pulse. In the movies, waking up next to the person you love for the first time is like descending on a cloud from heaven. In reality, it's an exercise of will not to suddenly jerk away from the different-smelling-heart-beat-blanket-thing taking up half the bed and cutting off your circulation.

At least, that's the sort of dream it's like until Sesshoumaru realizes B-rated horror movies have no place in his imagination, and he recognizes that scent and that body and pulls his imperfect girlfriend a little bit closer to him. Feeling her stir and rub her face against his shoulder is a satisfying reward for not kicking her onto the floor.

"_...Yo._" He's on his back and Kagura is draped over him under the covers, her leg hooked around his waist where his hand was on her bare thigh a moment ago. Now his right arm is curled around her back, his body twisted and tension on his left shoulder where he can feel her body pinning his lame arm. She's awake enough, eyes still closed, to move with him until they're both on their sides, facing each other with her legs around his waist, his good arm stroking her back through her tee-shirt. Kagura's bra is... somewhere, he can't remember, he doesn't really care.

"Good morning..." He got to spend the night with Kagura, and that's all Sesshoumaru really wanted. He'd thought he wanted to take her out someplace expensive that he couldn't really afford, but that idea left him before he even drove away from the Tokijin. Maybe someplace middling around his price-range, but a long time spent in a noisy restaurant still hadn't seemed appealing. When he saw her last night dressed to stay in, Sesshoumaru felt a weight come off his shoulders that he hadn't known he'd been carrying. No going out, no being in public, just food because there was nothing in his fridge, and a bottle of wine because he finally had a reason to tell her something he'd already been so sure of.

The only spontaneous part about saying he loved her was the moment he chose to do it in. He'd known it for weeks already, months. He'd already known it was true before all the fuss and drama and difficulty with her brothers, he wouldn't have put up with that teenaged bastard otherwise. He'd loved Kagura since the day he left her, and hell it was probably the whole _reason_ why he broke up with her in the first place.

Last night was just the first time in months where he'd felt strong and successful enough to say it. Last night, after crunching the numbers so many times he'd lost touch with what the information meant. Last night, after harassing Jaken all day to confirm what he wouldn't let himself believe. Last night when he'd proven to himself that he could do this, that he could manage his future and was allowed to hold his head up high again. Last night was the first time in months where Sesshoumaru felt he might have something more to offer Kagura than just a phone-bill and a back-alley meeting place.

"Mm... Is there anything for breakfast?" Listening to Kagura mumble her words, face scrunched up and hands folded up under her cheek, Sesshoumaru's struck by how pathetic she sounds when she's tired. It's that cute sort of helplessness though, the kind that makes him move his face in closer and brush his nose against hers.

"No." He doesn't even have to think about that, eyes closed as his hand travels up and down her back, enjoying the smooth curve of her spine unobstructed by the straps of her bra. It's hard not to just coax her shirt up so he can touch her skin directly, but Kagura lifts her head with her tousled hair and sleep-heavy eyes and stares at him.

"You're kidding." She grumbles. "Nothing?" Settling his hand on her side, Sesshoumaru watches his girlfriend come to grips with the fact that, no, there's nothing to eat. "Fruit? Eggs? Milk?" No, no, and no. She's welcome to check herself if she feels like- wait a minute...

"I wasn't serious."

"About no food or me going?" The latter, but Sesshoumaru doesn't bother clarifying that as Kagura is now very awake and nearly off the bed- _nearly._ "And you're always serious, now let go." No. He has his hand gripping the back of her tee-shirt and Sesshoumaru is not willing to get out of bed yet. He has no idea what her sudden burst of energy is from, but if she wants to be energetic then Kagura can come and do so between the sheets with him. Barring that, she can lay down on him again, he was quite comfortable.

"Keep glaring, just come back to bed." She's not sleepy anymore, her red eyes burning with a secret challenge that Sesshoumaru is... admittedly, a bit curious about. He doesn't let go as she twists around to face him, enjoying the fact that it causes the black cotton to ride up her back so nicely. Kagura drums her fingers on the bedding and then shrugs at him.

"Fine, be that way." And then she drops out of sight. Sesshoumaru watches Kagura's hands vanish delicately through her sleeves until he's left holding nothing but an empty shirt. Kagura reappears a moment later, just her head and bare shoulders over the edge of the bed, her arms come up and rest on the bedding, her cheek sitting over her folded hands demurely. Well, demure save for her grin and her laugh. "Your face...!" Right now, his face is allowed to do what it wants.

"Come here."

"No! Now give me my shirt back-" Absolutely not. Sesshoumaru snatches his hand away, taking the shirt hostage as Kagura makes a grab for it and fails. She pouts at him after that, then rolls her eyes with a shrug. "Your choice."

Sesshoumaru _has_ seen Kagura naked before, but that's not the point as she stands up and walks out of his room. He's seen and touched practically every inch of her already, he's probably even seen that pair of scarlet lace panties before, the ones clinging to her hips as she saunters out of sight. That's not the point. The point is that every time he's been intimate with her, they've been in the dark. They've been close. They've been nervous or passionate or playful, they've never woken up together. They've never been casual with one another.

Changing his clothes in front of her last night had to be one of the few truly nerve-wracking moments Sesshoumaru can remember. But it was okay, once he started and once he finished everything felt okay. And right now, listening to Kagura open his empty fridge and explore his equally empty freezer, Sesshoumaru still feels okay.

"What the hell do you _eat?_" He doesn't know why they're talking about this, but watching Kagura reappear in all her glory and lean on his door-frame robs him of the will to argue.

"My girlfriend brings me dinner some nights." He eats more than that, but watching her coil a lock of hair around her finger and swing her hips a little to get around the bed feels like a reward. "And I drink a lot of coffee."

"You hate coffee." He does, but he drinks it anyways and that's still not the point. Kagura sits on the bed next to him with her hair spilling down her front, like the red-black strands can hide anything with the sunlight striking her skin like that. He sits up and that brings them much closer together, his girlfriend sitting on her hip and planting one hand next to him so she's leaning over his lap.

In the movies they give you that shot of smooth, pale skin in warm sunshine. They show how the light turns a few strands of her hair bright white where they're hanging over her eye, but film can't convey the depth of it all. It gratifies the audience when the lead reaches out and strokes the love-interest's hip and waist, or leans in for a kiss because he can't stand not touching her. But that's not what this is, touching this would just spoil it.

She isn't a goddess, this isn't heaven, Kagura's only beautiful to him because she's in this light and Sesshoumaru is in love with her. Her nose is hovering just next to his, so he can smell the scent of her bare skin and see the oils in her hair and the shine on her shoulder. He can taste that almost floral aroma she leaves behind her when they're together, hear her breathing and the wet sound of her throat constricting as she swallows. Her pink lips stick together as she looks at him, his senses taking her in completely. He can already feel her warmth spreading through the blankets over his leg.

"..._Hey._" Hmm? He looks up at her eyes again and misses the sight of her hand moving through the light to touch him, warm fingertips resting on his chest and skating across his skin. "Um, I..." What is it? His nose bumps gently against hers as Kagura looks down at nothing, bringing her back up. She looks almost guilty for having spoken, but he doesn't mind. "What did you mean last night?"

"About what?" They talked about a lot of things last night, she needs to give him more than that.

"You kept saying..." Kagura stops and just holds her breath. She doesn't look upset, but leans around him a little, grabbing the pillow out from behind his back and placing it over her chest and stomach. She starts hugging it loosely with one arm and Sesshoumaru can't help but feel a little cheated. He's certain that's supposed to be his job, and that the pillow just stole it. Kagura snaps her fingers. "My eyes are up here." He was not staring, there's nothing to stare at anyways with that damn pillow in the way.

"You kept saying, _'that's not what I meant'_." After she started crying? "Yeah. Well, what did you mean?" Hmm... Last night he'd told Kagura he loved her, he'd said he wanted more and then she had become hysterical. It isn't worth going all over it again in his mind, so Sesshoumaru just looks up at her again and lifts his good hand, pressing the pad of his thumb down over her lips.

"I want more, Kagura." She draws in a breath but he just presses his thumb a little harder, pinching her lips shut. "That doesn't mean I want you to abandon your little family." Big family. Whatever. "It means I want more." He can see it in her eyes that she doesn't understand what he means. It's hard to put it into words any simpler than that, but maybe that's the problem. Kagura doesn't want the concept honed down to a three-word answer, she wants him to explain, and he just hates wasting words.

"What I want..." He can remember the first time he saw her and how he thought she was skinny, too skinny, like a board with no curves and corded limbs. She's softened with care, she eats better, sleeps better, and dances six days a week when she's not running too many errands and taking on too many responsibilities. Every minute of her day is budgeted, every ounce of energy already spoken for a week in advance. Kagura tackles and takes care of and frets over a hundred and a half things every day, while Sesshoumaru just holds onto his two big issues: money and business.

He wants _more_.

"Kagura, I want you to invite me in when I show up outside your door." She's staring at him, not trying to speak over or interrupt, but she's watching him with a mixture of confusion and a tinge of disbelief. "I don't want you to hang-up on me just because the infant is making noise in the background. I don't want Kanna to hide from me when I'm around. I don't care if Hakudoshi hates me, he's not going to start getting over it until he _sees_ me around you and I'm not just stealing you away in the middle of the night."

The hand that was on his chest now rises, the backs of her nails stroking his skin once before she wraps her fingers around his wrist, holding onto the hand keeping her quiet. She drops her eyes but doesn't close them, tugging on his hand until his palm slips over her mouth and he feels her lips kiss the warm skin. Watching her listen like this tells him she hasn't already thought about it, that maybe this is a new idea. Brushing his fingers over her cheek, the skin is warm in the sunlight and Kagura won't let go of his hand, nuzzling it softly before she finally starts to nod a little.

"Okay." There's barely any wind behind the word, but he can hear it and it feels good. Her eyes are going red though, and she's only taking very shallow breaths. "Okay. You're sure? I mean-"

They're close enough to smell one another, close enough that he can feel the words on his skin, so Sesshoumaru just leans in and kisses her. He shakes his hand free from Kagura's grasp so he can wrap his arm around her back and pull her against him, and he holds her like that. He hears her gasp but feels her lips move against his before they part willingly, she'd taste better if they hadn't both gone to sleep after eating take-out and champagne, but she's Kagura, it's fine. It's fine when he has to hold her head down so they don't have to break the kiss as she moves, her thighs spreading warm and heavy over his hips. And she's the one who pulls that pillow out from between them and tosses it somewhere, small round breasts pressing up against his bare chest as Kagura drapes her arms around his shoulders and he starts to fall back.

Coming up for _'air'_ isn't required, that's what noses are for. Sesshoumaru just smiles with Kagura laying over him and pulls her around until he's on his side, then keeps going until the sheets are a hopeless tangle trapped between their hips. The whimper she makes is a sound he knows, her legs spread under him and her hands roaming down his sides trying to find the obstructions. Working his arm free from under her lets him find and test the red lace coiled around her hip. His fingers creep and tease as he explores down along the edge of the fabric, lifting his own hips just enough to find what he's looking for.

Leaving her swollen lips alone, Sesshoumaru gets to watch her bite her lip and groan a little as she tips her head back. Stroking her through the red between her legs is teasing, it's clean and it's dirty at the same time. She grumbles up at him until he digs his fingers in and grabs her, watching the shudder move through her body as she sinks down and whines.

"That's not _fair...!_" It's incredibly fair. After last night Sesshoumaru is entitled to make her beg a little. Kagura's small hands fly up from where they've been tugging at his sweatpants and the bedding, warm fingers rubbing over his shoulders and caressing his chest. He hasn't done anything yet and she's already panting, a deep laugh moving up his throat as he tilts his head and attacks the side of her neck with his lips. "Lower-!" He'll get there, but right now he's quite happy listening to her pant and murmur under him, her hips rising to push against his hand convincingly.

Between the bedding tied around his legs and the last stitch of clothing hugging her hips, there isn't a whole lot he can do without sitting up first. This earns him a cry from Kagura and a pair of legs hooked around his waist, but with her red chest and swollen lips, she finally relents. It's amazing what he can get her to do by just not doing anything in return. He doesn't _want_ to rest his head on her shoulder and pretend like that's enough for now, but it works and he finds himself sitting straight up, legs dangling over the edge of the bed as he frees himself from the confines of the sheets and night-clothes.

"Oh hurry up, _c'mon_... I-" Kagura is not a patient woman, Sesshoumaru's known this for a while now and he doesn't mind as he feels her hands go sliding down his back. The cursed tingle that follows her caress makes his shoulders bunch and twist before he can stop it, but she laughs and works her nails down the skin to make it better. It's hard not to smile as he turns around to see her again, lounging behind him with a lucky pillow bunched under her arm. He's almost humbled by the difference a little bit of red lace can make once it's gone. She hangs her head to the side, exposing the smooth dip of her throat, her red eyes toying with his appearance before an ounce of sobriety breaks through the excitement. "I have to go to work."

Oh. That's not what he was hoping she'd say. He doesn't write his reaction across his face, but Sesshoumaru does allow one black brow to rise curiously as he turns and mimics her position on the bed. Kagura is next to him without a stitch of clothing on her smooth, warm body, his good hand on her side again and about to draw her close- and she wants to go to work?

"Please, please, please, just-"

"Be quiet, woman." He pulls her and leans in at the same time, his lips sliding into place over hers as Kagura stops talking and eagerly closes what little distance is between them with her body. Skin on skin, hip-to-hip and tangled comfortably together, they know each other but this isn't the usual set-up. His desk back at the Tokijin has been christened a few times, and he's come around to the idea of that narrow little corner in his office having a, um, specific function. Laying Kagura down on his bed is something Sesshoumaru's only had the pleasure of doing once, and as good as that was it feels like a long time ago, and there were a lot of mysteries back then to uncover.

But he knows her better now, physically. He knows the gasps and cries that mean she's completely his, the ones that tell him when her entire world suddenly becomes very simple, and very good. Sesshoumaru can feel the difference in the way she bends her spine, or how tightly she grips him with her hands, when something isn't right or it's going perfectly. It's different when she's sinking into his bed, but not enough that he has to wonder.

Sesshoumaru's world is confined to the exact dimensions of the bed once he has Kagura where he wants her, sliding into her hot flesh. Kagura doesn't scream in bed, but she repeats his name over and over again as he rocks their hips together and bends her body beneath his. Her legs coil around or squeeze him with no pattern, and her hands anywhere they feel like being: his back, his arms, his neck, his face, anywhere. She's always moving, constantly reacting, and it means he has to think and respond just as much as the sweat mists both their bodies. With Kagura he has to just hold her down under him and control her when she wants to be controlled, or keep pushing her until she's so confused her body makes up its own mind and does something indescribable for them both.

For a moment there's a banging sound Sesshoumaru just can't hear, but he tastes the sweat on Kagura's shoulder and her touch tells him it's not important. He can almost feel resistance in her, like she's distracted by something, but the tension fades and her lips pull his head down so all he can see and hear and smell is her. Just her. Just them. Just like this. And it's perfect. It's-

It's the sound of his apartment door opening around the corner from his open bedroom, and a voice Sesshoumaru doesn't recognize calling out through the space.

"_Mister Inu-Taishou? Metro PD, anybody home?"_

And it's just not perfect anymore.

* * *

><p><strong>Eventually these two will learn that sex in bed is not all its cracked up to be.<strong>

**Don't forget to drop a review, and I'll see you Sunday!**


	37. Not My Worst Day

**Kings and Queens, Iris, I Need a Doctor, Perfect, Never Say Never.**

**Totally forgot it was Sunday!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Not My Worst Day

Make it stop, make it end, make it all just go away. She didn't want this, she couldn't handle it if this was real. It wasn't funny and it never, ever would be.

There were _police_ in Sesshoumaru's apartment. As in men, men with guns, and badges, and uniforms, and radios, and bullet-resistant vests. At first there were only two of them, and they stayed _out_ of the bedroom after Sesshoumaru bellowed something and slammed the door shut. He found something to wear and looked ridiculous and high-strung in a wrinkled shirt and white sweat pants as Kagura hid, shame-faced, under the sheets on the bed.

He told her to stay there and she damn-well wasn't going to argue with him, and when he opened the door one of the officers tried to come _in_ and take a look around- hell no to that. Sesshoumaru had almost gotten into a shoving match with the man to keep him out, she'd never seen him get that aggressive before, _ever._ It wasn't until she screamed and threatened to throw something that the cop backed off and said they'd call for a female officer to come. Until then, they refused to let her shut the bedroom door.

So Kagura was left stark naked, wrapped up in bedsheets and clutching a pillow, hiding and wishing she could either die or wake up. She found her bra and panties and struggled to put them on inside her cotton cocoon, but moving around too much kept getting the attention of one of the officers- did they think she was stashing drugs or something? Sick, disgusting freaks!

Now there were four officers in Sesshoumaru's apartment, and Kagura could hear enough from the bedroom to know that his landlord had been the one to unlock the door and let them in. A woman dressed in blue stepped into the room and Kagura was doing everything in her power not to let tears of fury and humiliation run down her face, pointedly telling the bitch to go get her backpack that had been dropped off by the front door last night. Sesshoumaru's front door, not the landlord's.

"Do you have any ID, Miss?"

"In the backpack!" _Idiot! _Did Kagura _look_ like she wanted to stay like this? Was the woman completely brain dead!

Only after the officer came back- and when she did the backpack had been opened and _clearly _rifled through, Kagura was finally allowed to have the door closed. The female officer had to stay, but Kagura made herself handle it. She pulled on the change of clothes from inside, plus her hair-brush and tried to tame the mess clinging to her head. As she dressed, the woman asked questions and checked the ID cards Kagura'd pulled out to appease her.

"What's with all this barging in on people?" She'd been answering questions about her relationship with Sesshoumaru; that they'd been dating on and off for several months, that he'd picked her up around seven last night and they'd been together all night- yes, _all _night, and with no interruptions until this morning!

Kagura hesitated to give her place of work but knuckled under the weight of the officer's position: all they'd have to do was run her name and Kagura's status as a care-giver would come up, she couldn't afford to be too difficult with the police.

"There was an incident last night, from what I understand no one was able to get in contact with Mr. Taishou." _Inu-_ Taishou, but Kagura didn't correct her. "Extra measures were taken when there was no answer at the apartment door, it was for your own protection." And it'd be a _great_ laugh down at the police station too, wouldn't it? Kagura could almost hear the jokes now, and her face burned as she took her cards back and stuffed them into her wallet.

The female officer didn't get in her way, or seem to mind at all when Kagura wanted to leave the bedroom, they both stepped out and she had to ignore the fact that there were three armed men standing around Sesshoumaru. It surprised her that he was sitting down at the table in his kitchen, a number of photos spread out in front of him. But then she saw the look on his face, and she wanted to scream at the officers to get away from him.

Sesshoumaru was not _expressive._ He didn't write much of anything on his face, he didn't get excited easily or crumble under a bit of pressure or bad news. His emotions found other out-lets; usually his eyes, but the colour and heat of his skin worked well too, his gestures, his touch, the pitch of his voice. You had to pay attention to him to know how he was feeling.

So when she saw him looking _too_ pale, his eyes vacant and staring down through the glass without actually seeing anything, something was wrong. His lame arm was hanging limp at his side with his good hand resting in his lap, the strength drained out of his shoulders where they'd slouched down. He didn't seem to care that his hair was loose and some of it tangled over his face, he'd completely forgotten the fact that he was bare-foot and had obviously dressed in under thirty seconds. He didn't even look at her when Kagura came into the room, just listened to what the officer next to him was saying.

"The fire department responded in time to salvage the structure, but the damage is still extensive on the inside, several people were hurt in the crush trying to get out the fire-exits."

"You said shots were fired." His voice sounded _dead_.

"There were no gunshot wounds reported, but..." The officer speaking finally noticed Kagura standing there, his words trailing off as Sesshoumaru lifted his head to look at her. She wasn't sure what her first instinct was, but it wasn't to rush over and hug him: not in front of all these people. She also didn't want him to suddenly come up with an explanation for what was happening, for the same reason.

So Kagura didn't say anything at all, just walked up until she was at the chair next to him around the corner of the table, taking a seat and looking down at the pictures in front of him. They were men's faces, most looked like mug-shots and Sesshoumaru's hand drifted up slowly, touching one near the corner and sliding it towards her.

Kagura didn't know what she was looking at for a moment, then took a harder look at the man's bleached hair and oriental moustache. She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something about him...

One of the officers had stepped outside for a minute, murmuring into his shoulder radio trying not to be too disturbing. When he came back, he spoke up with a question.

"Mr. Inu-Taishou, do you know a man named Moryomaru?" Sesshoumaru's floor manager? Kagura gave Sesshoumaru a look as he stared at nothing for a moment, then saw him nod. Words formed slowly in his throat, but he was given time to speak.

"I fired him last week." Kagura had seen him once, maybe twice before, but they'd never spoken. She understood that Sesshoumaru's business and personal lives didn't mix, so hadn't made it her business to get to know any of his staff at Tokijin. A look passed between the officers, but no one said anything.

What happened last night?

"Sir, I think you may want to come with us."

"I think so." It took Sesshoumaru only one try to stand up, but he needed a moment before he made that effort. She'd seen him stressed before, frustrated, trapped: it was how he looked almost every night at Tokijin. But she'd never seen him like this. He was vacant, not dismissive, quiet, not contemplative. It was like something had _broken_ in him, and Sesshoumaru didn't even notice her until Kagura grabbed his hand and spoke.

"I'll call a taxi." It was like her voice reminded him that she was even there, Sesshoumaru's eyes looking down at her. He almost looked confused, and then instead of arguing with her like he would at almost any other time, Sesshoumaru nodded. There was nothing in his eyes as he shook his hand free of hers.

So... She called a taxi, and Kagura left...

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><p>It was hard to go to practice, harder still to pay attention. Kagura wasn't the sort of person who needed several do-overs to get the basic routine down properly, but it was hard to stop thinking and just dance. She didn't want to just drop into that daze and let her body go where it wanted.<p>

When she did get the steps down, they were slow and heavy. That would've been fine yesterday, a Tuesday, but after today there was only one more practice tomorrow and then performances on the weekend. One hour, maybe two after they really started, Kagura was flagging badly enough for Jakotsu to pull her off the stage.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bad morning, y'know?" Jakotsu could still sympathize even if he didn't know what exactly had happened, her friend standing with her over by the bar while the others stretched and chatted on the stage. Kagura rubbed her face with one hand, she'd slept fine- she'd slept _great_, but it felt like she'd been up all night instead. This was not a good day.

"Problems at home?"

"No, no. Boyfriend." Jakotsu's eyebrows shot up, his mouth forming a perfect _'o'_. Kagura didn't get a chance to cut him off.

"What did he do? Sesshoumaru didn't say anything mean to you, did he? I know he's hot but that man can just-"

"_Jak._" He was just worried. Kagura closed her eyes and gave her head a shake. "No, it's not like that. Something _happened_ and it just..." She was distracted. Jakotsu sort of tilted his head back and forth a few times, swinging from side to side like he had to pee, then spoke up.

"Do you need to go see him?" Ugh... That was a hard question.

"I was gonna go after practice." The choreographer shook his head. No, did Kagura _need_ to go see him? She bit her lip and tried to think up the right answer. She was at work, her priorities were supposed to be-

"Yeah. Yeah, if I can, then..."

"Say no more. You've got the steps, just bring your A-game tomorrow." Right, she could do that, the trick was avoiding their boss. Smiling and rushing off to get changed, Kagura was out of the Tetseiga and on the bus ten minutes later.

Finding Sesshoumaru was easy, calling him wasn't though, so she just left the phone in her pocket as she navigated the bus network and stepped off at a stop in her old neighbourhood. Tokijin was close enough to her old apartment that Kagura didn't have to walk for more than a few minutes, but once she was there, she stopped.

The fire trucks had probably left hours ago, but there were still two patrol cars outside along with a large official-looking van. There was yellow tape over the windows and a perimeter set-up, but no one around. She ducked under the caution tape and had a look up at the sign that still hung suspended over the doors. The heat of the fire had blackened the bottom of it so just the _'Toki_' could be seen, and even from the ground Kagura could see bullet holes in the blue lettering.

_'Shit, I lived here?'_ Only a few blocks away, not enough distance to take her out of gang territory. People like that didn't shoot up apartment blocks though, at least not that Kagura'd ever heard of. Still, it made her look back with a shiver.

The doors had been propped open and Kagura entered unnanounced, broken glass crackling under her feet as she was careful not to slice open the bottoms of her shoes. Tokijin had been maze-like on the inside, ramps and booths surrounding the dance floor and leading to and from the bar. There was daylight across the black floor where one of the emergency exits had been propped open like the front, but the air was wet and salty from the night's trauma. The neon paint had been covered up by char, the bar completely smashed and partially melted, every light had burst from the power going haywire. Even in the middle of the day, this place was dark.

She was stopped by a pair of officers who looked like they were on their way out. She recognized one of them from that morning and was allowed to stay, the man pointing up in the direction of Sesshoumaru's office when she asked where he was. That was all she'd really wanted.

It didn't make sense until she saw the burnt furniture sitting behind the bar: the fire had been intentional. Whoever had done it had set the blaze where it would go crazy and do the most damage- which meant right next to and under the alcohol. Kagura felt a little sick when she thought she smelled blood on the floor and wall near the gate protecting the gangway, but she made herself pass through the fence and walk up towards the office. She stopped again when she got to the door, both because it was open, and its condition.

Bullets. Five, six, seven small holes had been blasted through the soft wood. The stink of soot and ash was strong here again, but she entered the silent, empty office and took a look around. The window he always looked out through had been smashed down onto the dance floor, the filing cabinets set up around the room all pulled over with their drawers ripped open. The remains of a bonfire had been set next to his overturned desk, all of it wet now from the fire-engine's pumps.

The door to the roof was open, but Kagura hadn't expected to find him inside anyways.

But she also hadn't expected to find Sesshoumaru crouched on the ground with his hand over his face, back resting against the short brick wall bordering the rooftop. Before leaving that morning he'd had a chance to change into one of his proper suits, a deep green one, and to brush his teeth and tie back his silver hair. Kagura had left before him, but she still knew he hadn't showered or shaved; there'd been no time for unnecessary grooming.

The roof was concrete strewn with pebbles and stone chips from years of neglect, some old crates were stacked up nearby, plastic-wrapped bundles of whatever, industrial plastic tubs of more who-knew-what. Kagura's feet crunched over the bits of concrete, the dancer not worried about keeping quiet as she walked up to him. He'd know she was there, and he'd know who she was by the time Kagura was standing over Sesshoumaru's crumpled form.

He really must have lost a lot of weight after his accident, that jacket didn't fit him at all.

"C'mon." Backpack settled behind her shoulders, one hand in her jean pocket, Kagura extended the other one out to him, only speaking since he wasn't looking at her to see the gesture. His hand moved, but just to squish and rub at his eyes, she could practically hear his eyelashes being twisted together.

"I was desperate." His voice didn't sound right. It was still his, it was still Sesshoumaru speaking, but it was like something had been cut out from under him, like she was just hearing an echo. "I needed to get rid of Kaijinbo. I knew Moryomaru had a record, but I didn't look into it and I didn't go with my gut. I hired a gang-"

"Shut up."

Last night a group of men with ties to Tokyo's underworld stormed Tokijin. They terrorized Sesshoumaru's customers and set fire to the main bar, then shot down the door to his office and, finding it empty, destroyed his records and set the whole thing ablaze. Last night Sesshoumaru could have died in this place, if he'd been there, but he wasn't.

Sesshoumaru had been with her instead, so right now Kagura didn't want to talk about the rest of that stuff. Last night Sesshoumaru could have died in this place, so as long as he was still alive Kagura wasn't going to let him stay here.

"I'm not gonna pick you up and carry you." Even if she'd wanted to, there just wasn't enough of her left for that sort of thing. She couldn't do anything for him if he was broken, but damaged? Kagura could handle damaged. "Just stand." Just take her hand.

Kagura wouldn't give aid if Sesshoumaru didn't want it. What was the good of helping someone if you had to break who they were to get your way? He hadn't wanted help this morning in his apartment kitchen, he hadn't wanted help last night when he'd earned his own rent for the first time in months. He'd needed it all along but Sesshoumaru just hadn't _wanted_ it, so Kagura couldn't give any.

Friends were who you asked for help from when you needed it. Family was who you begged for it from when your friends couldn't do any more. Or maybe it was the other way around. It didn't matter.

Because the one you loved wasn't someone you had to ask. You just had to let them know that you were ready.

Was he?

* * *

><p>The first order of business was getting away from Tokijin. Far, far away.<p>

Kagura didn't want any talking either, not when she walked him to the bus-stop and then released his hand only for the minute it took her to count out extra change for his fare. And at no point after that was there going to be any talking. It was standing room only on the bus, so she couldn't hold his hand again lest he topple over whenever the loud vehicle lurched or turned, but they weren't on it for very long.

Off of the bus, onto the trains. No talking. They found a seat at the back of one nearly empty car, moving against the early rush-hour crowd.

"Where are we going?" It was the only full sentence she let him get out, Sesshoumaru's face still dazed and his eyes not quite alert to what was going on around him.

"Take that thing off." It was the closest he got to a response from her, the two of them seated next to one another for the thirty minutes it took them to reach the stop she wanted. Sesshoumaru didn't have it in him to argue with her, and Kagura unbuckled the sling around his body and stuffed it away in her backpack, helping straighten his jacket once his lame arm was pushed through the sleeve. She seemed pleased with the effect.

She leaned on his good shoulder, one hand curled around his bicep and fingers woven through his as they rode a second train through the dark underbelly of the city. They weren't leaving Tokyo, but by the time she tugged on him again to step off, he didn't know where he was anymore. But there were trees, and about ten minutes later they were someplace quiet, someplace safe, someplace different.

The Rikugi-en, he read the sign and recognized the name of one of the city gardens. It was quiet once they were in the gates, and given the time of day- early afternoon on a Wednesday, there was almost no one inside. Sesshoumaru didn't know too much about the garden, just where it was since he'd driven through this sector of the city multiple times before. He'd never been inside, and Kagura stopped once they were through the gates and looked like she didn't know which way to go. But, maybe, that was alright. This was where she'd wanted to come.

It was a strolling garden, there were low benches and sprawling vegetation- most of which was still just waking up for the growing season. A lot of green and yellow, but not much else. No vibrant colours yet, but that was part of the calming effect too: not a lot going on, but still enough for your to notice. They walked together and, after a few minutes, Sesshoumaru let his good hand stray and take hers again. He wanted to hold onto her, but more importantly he wanted her to coil her arm around his like she'd done on the train, wanted to feel her fingers weave between his and squeeze tightly.

He also didn't want to keep walking, but neither did Kagura. They slowed almost to a stop at every bench they passed, but none met her standards. There was no talking, and that was alright, but Sesshoumaru could feel a weakness in his knees that started creeping up along his back. He felt himself starting to lean on her and wanted to stop walking.

He was moving through a heavy fog, a numbness that was only getting worse the more he moved and had to keep thinking, keep acting, keep going. Kagura made it better, but as she watched the plants and the benches and the reflection of the sun off the wide pond taking up a portion of the garden... No, stop that. Don't do this, he couldn't do this right now. He couldn't pretend everything was okay, he was so tired of acting like he was doing fine. It was exhausting to keep going through the motions and keeping everything hidden and neat.

He'd lost his business to Inuyasha. He'd lost his livelihood and his pride and his self-confidence to his father. He'd lost all control to his mother. He'd lost the respect of Jaken, and he was going to lose it from Jakotsu and Byakuya soon enough. He'd lost his only chance to Moryomaru. He'd destroyed his own credit and then let underworld politics he hadn't known anything about destroy everything else.

_'For the love of God, Kagura, say something.'_

"This way." There was a path for a reason, but there was also a massive, gnarled tree planted right at the bend in the walkway that marked a transition between the little road and a small meadow of yellow plants. She didn't expect them to trample the sweet grass down, but Kagura did leave the path behind, tugging Sesshoumaru along to follow her to the base of the tree. He had no idea what kind it was, the tree was big and it had leaves, that was all that seemed important to him, especially when she finally, blessedly, stopped walking.

"Come." She dropped her backpack on the path near the tree's roots and then plopped down on the grass, leaning her back against the rough bark and looking up at him. He almost felt the need to look around, to make sure no one else was around, but then he saw a softness in her eyes and he just knelt down in front of her. It would be alright, to be like this with her, and only for today.

It took a few minutes, the ground was uncomfortable and Sesshoumaru still wasn't quite all together in his mind. It should have been Kagura resting in his arms, held close by him and giving him a sense, a reminder, of the fact that he could protect her. That was how it should have been, but she wouldn't let him do that. It was like Kagura's refusal was her way of silently challenging the entire platform. How could he look after her? How could he provide for her needs? What good was he right now? The questions bit and stung him, they trampled down the hope he'd clung to that, maybe, their relationship hadn't been changed by this morning.

"Sesshoumaru, I love you." But it _was_ different, it was completely different from what it had been last night, or the day before that. "So just come here."

He did what she said and finally settled the way she wanted him. Maybe it was what he needed, to be ordered around just once and made to do something he didn't initially want. Maybe this would help him, because as he let himself sink into Kagura's arms, his head on her shoulder, his back pressed against her body where she was sitting behind him, letting him recline on her... Sesshoumaru started- _started_, to maybe feel better. Maybe. A little.

She was wrapped tight around him, Kagura's knee up supporting him from the side, her opposite arm draped over his shoulder and looped around his chest. Her other hand was touching his face, stroking his temple and cheek, combing her fingers back through his hair. Sesshoumaru could close his eyes and turn his face down under her throat, his good hand up and holding her elbow to keep her touch from slipping away.

It took her a long time to say anything, and when she did... Sesshoumaru almost resented her for it.

"It's okay." No, it wasn't. "You'll get through this." No, no he wouldn't. He'd exhausted everything. No credit, no capital, no investments, no savings, he- "Are you bankrupt?" He- what? No. Well... no? There were so many numbers, he had no idea if- "Explain it to me?" No. "Talk me through it." He didn't... want to...

"I'm tired." She didn't let go of him, didn't stop running her fingertips over his scarred cheek or pull away at all. He was so tired. It wasn't even physical anymore, it had nothing to do with how much he'd slept or eaten or walked around today. It was nothing his limbs could deal with or feel better about. It was his mind: he was so, so _tired_... "I don't-"

His cell went off. It was sitting in his jacket pocket and it started to vibrate and thrum loudly. It could have been a brick landing square in his chest though, his words seized up and he couldn't remember how to breathe. There was a creeping burn around his eyes as he opened them, stunned by the choking sensation in his throat and the doom that came washing over his body.

Shutting his eyes again and holding them tightly closed, he turned towards Kagura's warmth and felt her stiffen; her hand pressing down on the side of his face like she was trying to take him in. The arm she'd wrapped around him moved and he felt her hand digging after the distant sound of the phone, Sesshoumaru twisting his body just enough so she could reach the pocket she needed and draw the device out. He just dropped himself back in place against her, eyes shut and throat sore, his good arm looking for her waist so he could hold onto her.

"Who's this?" She wasn't talking to him, Kagura had answered the phone and was speaking bluntly into the receiver. "Well I asked first: so who the hell is this?" Someone willing to argue with the strange woman speaking through his phone. Sesshoumaru shifted his body just enough so he could rest lower down, the hand on his face stroking and encouraging him to make himself comfortable. "Does that mean lawyer? So that makes you his mom- you could have just said that!" No, he didn't want to talk to his mother right now, not like this. His arm tightened around Kagura's waist and she answered by rubbing her hand down the middle of his back, trying to sooth him.

"_No._ He'll call you when he feels like it." He loved her, he loved her. It was so much easier to think about that instead of anything else. "Fine, leave a message, but I sure won't give it to him." Kagura made a sound over him after that, like a laugh or a sniff.

"She hung up on me." Sesshoumaru really wasn't surprised. He had moved all the way down until his head was resting in her lap, the dark blue of her jeans oddly comfortable against his cheek. Her leg was under him and his good arm curled around so he could rest his hand on her hip, actually comfortable like this. He listened as Kagura closed the flip-phone and tossed it off into the grass, then felt her rest one hand on his shoulder and use the other to stroke his hair slowly, like a cat.

It was quiet here... The garden swallowed the traffic sounds from the city outside the walls. He could almost pretend that... that they were _miles_ away from Tokyo.

And when his cell went off again, Kagura just leaned over a little to pick it back up, then whipped it off into the trees. Sesshoumaru raised his head up at this, but, after a brief moment of consideration, settled back down. It was hiding, but it didn't feel that way. It was more like he was simply rejecting the idea that he had to speak to people just because they called him. Sesshoumaru didn't want to talk to anyone.

"This your worst day ever?" Except Kagura. Her voice, her questions, her opinions... those were things he was alright with.

"...No." It was close, but... His worst day hadn't ended like this. Sesshoumaru's eyes had been open again and drifted closed once more, enjoying the warmth hitting his shoulders from the sun, and Kagura's smooth, constant touch.

"Really? There was something worse than this?" Mm... he could have said his parents' divorce, but that hadn't really been a day and Sesshoumaru had been too young at the time to remember much of it. There was the day his father died, but, no, not really. Losing Tetseiga, which had been his contribution to his father's memory: _that_ had hurt. But no. Worst day... there were days worse than this one, but the absolute lowest one...

"The accident..." He slurred the word a little bit, kept his eyes closed and his body positioned comfortably on the grass. "That was... worse." He'd started that day off badly, because he'd had a bad night before it. Too much drinking, too much anger. He'd let his temper get the best of him and his fatigue get in the way of basic motor skills. That was another day he'd almost died, but it had been his own fault then, no one else had a role in that.

Not even Inuyasha.

"That was a good day for me." Kagura's words didn't make sense right away, Sesshoumaru almost thought he'd heard her wrong. "Got a great new job, talked to a hot guy- but he was a bit of a prick." Hmph. She must have been referring to Bankotsu, Sesshoumaru was always a perfect gentleman. "It was pretty awesome... until we heard this sound outside." Oh... "We were pretty sure the guy in the silver car was gonna die..."

But he hadn't. He saw her point now: he'd survived his worst day. Today... was bad, but not on the same level. This day started with Kagura, and it was ending with her... that made it better. Not by much, but by just enough that...

"Sleep if you're tired, Sesshoumaru." He was too old for naps, but too tired to say as much. He was warm and she was still stroking his head, something he wasn't used to but found he liked. "You've had a bad day."

_'... But not my worst.'_

* * *

><p><strong>Wooo~! Long, fluffy chapter.<strong>

**Still haven't made additional progress on chapter 42. Uh-oh~ I've also fallen head over heels for Hetalia, but maybe it'll be a short love-affair like my brief fling with Pokemon xD**


	38. Technically Speaking

To** The Sky, To Love's End, there was another song but I can't remember it. Bleh.**

**Added a new Chapter 38 after checking my calender and figuring out that I was leaving Mr. Hakudoshi in the dust. Too many characters, says I!**

**Aaand I totally forgot it was Sunday again. Sorry about uploading so late!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Technically Speaking...

So Rin and Karan had made friends, huh? How the hell had he missed that? When had it happened? What the hell did they have to talk about? Why did it bug him so much?

"_Oi!_" What? "This came for you, aren't you gonna check it out?"

Hakudoshi paused while putting on his shoes, a new pair of runners snug and comfortable around his feet. He had his bag slung over one shoulder with his WacDonald's hat and shirt stuffed inside, a light jacket for the spring weather all he really needed, one hand in his pocket where he'd been checking to make sure he had his house keys and phone.

It was a Saturday so it didn't surprise him when Byakuya handed him a small letter-sized envelope. His half-brother was dressed down in jeans and a tee-shirt, but just because he wasn't headed in to work today didn't mean Byakuya had the day to himself. He had a bunch of work from his boss and looked like he was getting ready to spend the entire day holed up in his room with those big textbooks of his. Who the hell would want to study the law?

"It's from that school you applied to." Datsuki? He took the envelope and read the information on the corner, an office name and address printed there like a string of nonsense while Haku's name sat alien in the middle of the rectangular fold. Probably a rejection letter. _'Better luck next time!'_"You want a ride to work?"

"Nah, it's fine." Stuffing the envelope away Haku turned and unbolted the front door, his alright mood hitting the floor with the memory of that miserable exam- and the terrible party that had followed. Rin had accused him of skipping their school's graduation party and this was true: he'd spent it at home with his family instead. Having your birthday in March could really suck sometimes, but this year it was a perk. Sixteen.

Cars were expensive, even old used ones. Catching the bus from the stop a few blocks from their complex it was standing-room only and Haku closed his eyes lazily while keeping his balance. He'd have been closer to his goal if he hadn't bought the shoes he was wearing, or if him and Byakuya hadn't tried figuring out what was wrong with his car's engine. Bya kept suggesting that they ditch his old rust bucket and the two of them manage a new_er_ car together, but plans always fell-through.

At least the rust-bucket gave Hakudoshi something to practice on. Byakuya was pretty useless but the internet was good for things like oil-changes and fluid checks. Well, at least it had been when they _had _internet. After the little photo incident on Bya's computer they'd cancelled the service. Either Hakudoshi had to carry the internet bill from now on or they were gonna stay offline. _Pfft._

His stop rolled up and Haku jumped off, keeping an eye out for puddles as he walked along and avoided walking in to anybody. He could have run and grabbed the next bus as it pulled around the corner but he felt like walking today, letting the over-packed vehicle chug away with its load of Saturday morning shoppers and students. Spring vacation was short, but Haku wished it would last a lot longer: that way no one would notice when he wound up in a cram school or just gave up and dropped out all together. He'd be working fast-food his entire life if he did that though, there was just no up-side.

He regretted his transfer as he saw the WacDonalds' sign come into view, the Datsuki Technical School looming over the little red and yellow outlet like some sort of monster. It was even worse going there after Rin's scene at the front register, but at least the management hadn't put him through the ringer for it. If you hired high school students, you got high school drama.

_'When did she become friends with Karan?'_ There was no point in wondering how she knew Sesshoumaru. In the almost two weeks since the outburst Haku had been forced to start answering his phone and talking to the chatty brunette. He didn't mind it so much when he stopped thinking about his application to Datsuki. She'd showed up at WacDonalds a few more times with a much better attitude, remembering what he'd said about his shift and appearing just as his time behind the fryer or salad station was winding down to an end.

She was cute, okay, he could admit that. She was funny, sometimes, or she was just so pathetic that it was easier to smile and laugh at her than try to fix whatever was wrong. He'd seen her mad all of the one time- but she could get huffy and puff out her cheeks like she was going to hold her breath until she got her way. He knew her family lived and took care of a shrine somewhere along the Oedo line, her father had been in big business before he died in a car-accident, their mother some kind of society heiress who preferred to play house-wife and hostess at the shrine.

He knew her sister was engaged to Kagura's boss. And he knew that Kagura's boss was her boyfriend's half-brother.

Hakudoshi really wished he was okay with all of that.

He also wished he was okay with what was waiting for him come April.

* * *

><p>Hakudoshi checked the envelope just before going on his shift, changing his shirt and putting on his hat in the back room before hanging up his bag and seeing that stupid white slip sticking out of the front compartment. Might as well start his shift in a bad mood, that way he could take out some frustration on the over-packaged over-processed whatever-it-was they really served here.<p>

He got the thing open with his teeth while trying to get the coat-room door open with one hand. Who the hell rolled the trolley up behind the door? Thanks, guys.

_'Dear Mister Onigumo_.'

Y'know what, Kagura was right: that name did suck. He'd always had it but maybe Hakudoshi _would_ look into figuring out his mother's maiden name. He just didn't like the look of it under the Datsuki school crest, the bright red letterhead dancing across the top of the page like it had something to celebrate.

_'Dear Mister Onigumo._

_'We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Datsuki Technical High School. You may pick up your academic calende-'_

"_YES!_"

Oh shit, was that out-loud?

* * *

><p>"I don't think he'll wanna see me."<p>

"But you're friends! Friends always like seeing friends!" Karan still wasn't sure how she'd wound up as one of Rin's friends, it was more like the other girl had taken one look at her in second year and gone _'Yes! That one!'_. Or Toran was a snitch. Both options seemed plausible.

_'She gets commission for a condo and I get a groupie, I don't get it.'_ Letting the other girl take her by the wrist Karan didn't dig her heels into the pavement but she didn't do much to help Rin along either.

Part of the red-head was happy she'd put in the extra effort at Toran's request and had been accepted to Midoriko- it was a hell of a lot better than what Shuran had done what with getting himself expelled. The big oaf probably wasn't even _going_ to high school, but she didn't know that for sure: his last fight with Toran about bad behaviour had led to him walking out. Great role-model, that one. So part of her was happy she got to go to Midoriko, the part that was more amused than frustrated with Rin as she was dragged off the train where they'd been sitting, then up the stairs, then around the corner, and another corner.

Right past Datsuki Technical school, the place Karan had wanted to go a _little _bit more than Midoriko. Their automotive program was something to die for, but she'd just have to wait for college. Maybe Midoiko had a mechanical club or something, just 'cause it was all-girls didn't mean it had to be all poems and archery.

"Please, Rin?" Karan dug her heels in, actively resisting now as the WacDonalds loomed closer and closer. The two of them weren't much different in size, eventually coming to a stand-still with Karan letting all her weight go and Rin kept her upright by the wrist, the other girl struggling to take another step forward. Karan didn't care if she hit the ground, her jeans had a stylish hole in the knee already and the half-gloves on her hands would keep it from hurting. Rin, on the other hand, was wearing a pleated yellow skirt and a white sweater, so falling over wouldn't be so great for her.

"Your friends and you never talk to him!" Which meant they weren't really _friends!_ "He's sorry about missing graduation! He told me!"

"He told _you_-"

_WHOOSH!_

"Omph!"

Rin dropped her and Karan caught herself on one hand, the brunette tumbling behind her and blinking vacantly after the force that had just barrelled past them both. It looked like a run-away advertisement, all WacDonald's red and blue as a familiar white-haired boy bolted out the doors of the restaurant and his hat flipped back off his head. He had a backpack in one hand, a piece of paper in the other, and was sprinting like there was a pack of dogs on his heels.

"Was that-?"

"-I think!" Since when did Hakudoshi grin like that?

"_Onigumo!"_

Helping Rin off the ground with a laugh, Karan turned as the glass doors opened again and a young man wearing a white manager's shirt stepped out. He had one hand reaching out the way Hakudoshi had vanished, holding a familiar black jacket in his other hand.

"Woah, did Haku steal something?" Rin gasped at her question but the red-head asked it anyways, not ashamed as the manager blinked behind his glasses and the noticed them. She gave him a nasty little grin but the man just sighed and held the coat out to her.

"Do you know him? I've no idea what happened, he just started yelling and jumping and then he ran off like a maniac!" And left his jacket behind? "Now I gotta call someone to cover..."

"We'll take his jacket!" Rin announced the words and Karan quickly snatched it from the manager. Sure, she'd been dragging her heels and making up excuses not to go have an awkward meet-up with the guy her brother kicked the crap out of, but this?

This just sounded _fun._

* * *

><p>He had a head-start on them but it wasn't that hard to follow the wild teen in red and blue, Karan tossing his jacket on over her arms because it was easier than carrying it around as they sprinted down the street. He crossed at a busy intersection and Rin shrieked a little when Karan pulled her along to cut across the street before they reached the cross-walk.<p>

Where the hell was he headed? They vanished under the street as he found a train station, Karan slapping a hand over Rin's mouth when the brunette got on her toes and took a deep breath to yell his name.

"_Shh!_"

"But he's right there!" SHHH! No shouting! She smooshed her palm back over Rin's mouth, the other girl giving her a look that was both innocent and critical at the same time, her brown eyes sparking. So Karan asked:

"Do you have his cell number?" Rin mutely nodded, a hand on Karan's wrist telling her to let go, which she reluctantly did. At least Rin hadn't tried to lick her. "If we lose him then we'll call. I betcha he gets all the way to wherever he's going without noticing us!"

"I don't think so..."

"A hundred yen says he's clueless!" Rin pursed her lips, the moan of an incoming train telling them they didn't have time to quibble about this.

"Done." Hell yes!

* * *

><p>On the Oedo line, transfer to Hibiya. Off to a bus-stop about a block from the station he left the train at. Really, where the hell were they going? Karan had no idea where they were but the commercial district had vanished, Tokyo's skyline off to the south behind them as the girls kept an eye on their pray.<p>

Rin got in on the game, quickly pushing Karan behind a small display at a local shop when Haku stopped and pulled out his phone. He didn't make a call, it looked like he was texting someone- probably wanted the bus times.

Karan pulled his hood up to hide her red hair when they got on the bus, Rin taking out her tell-tale pigtail and binding up all of her hair in a long pony-tail instead as they took a seat. The girls used Rin's pocket mirror to check where he was standing at the back door of the bus, pretending to look at themselves without having to turn around and risk discovery.

"I think I've driven past this way before." Rin stated after the fun of tittering behind their hands began to wane. This was a long bus ride, the stops were few and far between, more and more greenery showing up.

"Me too, can't think of when though." They weren't leaving Tokyo, but they were far from the sky-scrapers and flashing lights. "Look at him, he's still grinning like a dolt." The only time Karan could remember Haku looking like that had been the time Shuran and Ginka had got their hands on some pot. Maybe fourteen was too young for that but it'd been fun to sit behind the dumpsters hours after school and watch the world turn. He didn't look high though.

Haku signalled for the next stop.

"Huh? Why here?" They both started looking around, a gated property to their right and a couple of houses on the other side of the street.

"There's no shops or anything..." Maybe his girlfriend lived out here? "Girlfriend?" Rin's face looked... funny when she repeated the word like that. The bus wasn't empty but it was quiet. The two of them quickly climbed out of their seats and jumped off onto the side-walk.

"Hey, um..."

Karan didn't feel like running anymore as they took a look around, Haku already sprinting off again but not in the direction of any of the houses. It wasn't fun anymore when Rin read aloud the cemetery name and Karan realized that the front gate was open, Haku's blue and red shirt vanishing past the bars. Why were they here?

"Hey, Rin." Karan played with the words before she spoke them, figuring out what it was she wanted to say as she stuffed her hands inside the pockets of Haku's jacket. Rin was looking at her though, so she made herself just say it. Just ask. "Haku told you he lives with his sister, right?"

"Yeah, his sister works and takes care of the baby, I'm not sure what kind of job his mom has." Haku wasn't really one for explanations...

_'Don't you talk **shit** about my mother!'_ No, he was a bit too reactionary to ever go explaining his position on anything, he just assumed you already knew or just blind-sided you after he changed his mind. _'You have no fucking clue what happened! You breathe another fucking word I'll snap your god-damned neck!'_ He was scary when he got mad, loud and wild-looking. Of course she'd told Shuran about it, she'd run so hard to get away when Haku went ballistic on her it was a near thing she hadn't called the cops on him.

It'd been over a year now, but still...

_'I think I know what happened.'_ Or maybe he'd been really close with his grandma or something, or he had a girlfriend who liked to creep around grave-yards in the middle of the afternoon. She was jumping to conclusions.

"Should we go home?" Rin was looking down the road in the direction their bus had come, another one rumbling its way down the narrow lane towards them to take them back to where they'd been. Karan couldn't read the number at first, but then she got it: the five-fifty-eight. Felt like something to remember.

"Yeah..." They looked back at the cemetery entrance, the wrought iron bars looked both forbidding and yet not, red-brick and concrete making up columns interspersed along the length and breadth of the fence. Places like this closed late at night, but during the day you could just walk in and pay your respects without comment. "Yeah that might be best..." She still had his jacket, but...

"We should hurry, the bus's almost here." Okay. It was just a quick jog to get across the narrow street, the two of them standing nervously on the side-walk as the large machine rolled up to a stop. Karan didn't know what they had to feel ashamed about, or nervous, or a little bit guilty, but the thought was there and the feeling persisted as they were carried away.

Maybe it was better this way.

* * *

><p>"I did it..." He'd done it. "I really, really did it." Datsuki just had really crappy office staff, that was all. Or maybe he should have gone to the graduation celebration and checked the boards to see if he'd been accepted or not. Who knew. At the time it hadn't felt like the sort of humiliation Hakudoshi'd wanted to endure.<p>

"I bet you never thought I... Or maybe you did." She probably had, she was always talking about the good in people, always expected that there was something more lingering beneath the surface when people said or did bad things. Hell, that was why she'd died, wasn't it?

He'd run as far as he could, hating how slow the trains and buses felt as he was whisked across the city and found his way back here. He'd actually misplaced her grave at first, getting the wrong row and running back a few times before recognizing the split tree standing not far from the family grave.

It had only been a few months since they'd last come here but there was already a film of dirt clinging to the black granite, Hakudoshi using his sleeve to wipe off the stone around his mother's name. He couldn't explain his reaction to finding it, how he'd run up shouting as if she could actually hear him or maybe she was really there. He'd just done it that way, holding the letter up as if she could read it and babbling for a few minutes about nothing. Then he saw the dirt. Then he wiped it off.

"You'd like Bya." After that he didn't know what else to do, she couldn't reply to him, he was speaking to a slab of dead rock and nothing more. But he didn't want to leave yet either. Haku just set his backpack down and sat down with his back against the stone monument, because leaving so soon didn't feel right. He'd left his jacket at work and lost his hat while he was sprinting through the streets, never mind the fact that he'd burst out of WacDonalds three minutes before his shift started.

If he was playing hookey, he'd make it worth his while.

"You'd like Kagura's boyfriend too." That bastard. "You liked everyone." What else? "The baby's walking- well, I guess he's not a baby anymore..." Toddler, he was still the baby in the family. He wasn't talking yet, babbling more and more, coming up with words every now and then when he wanted something and no one could read his grunts and glares.

"I'm going to high school, Mom." He looked up from where his hand was rubbing his arm through his sleeve, that nervous habit that came and went like Kagura's lip-biting and Kanna's whispering. Hakudoshi could only feel the scar under the white sleeve because he rubbed it so much, feeling the rough bind in his skin whenever he changed or showered. No body asked why he always had long sleeves on, the school had been lenient about him wearing a second shirt under his summer uniform and gym equipment- even if it was _damn_ hot in the summer. WacDonalds didn't care if her wore sleeves so long as he wore the tee-shirt, put on the hat, washed his hands and wore the gloves.

"I'm gonna go to high school and graduate from that." Unlike Kagura, something she always pointed out whenever the topic of school came up between them. "Then when I'm eighteen I'll sell the house, and I'll go to college." He had no idea what he'd study, but he'd go. Byakuya was always talking about his years in an American University. "Kagura always talks about that house like it's a gift from you." That was bullshit, but... it kinda made Hakudoshi smile a bit too.

"And I'm gonna get a car." _Eventually._ "And... ask Rin out." At some point. Before he finished high school and sold their house and went to college- maybe after he was settled at Datsuki- which, by the way, he'd been accepted to.

The sun was warm, he noticed that now as he stopped thinking so much and closed his eyes, legs stretched out and back leaning on the grave. He folded his arms and thought of one more thing to say, smiling a little and murmuring the words to the dead ashes underneath him.

"You'd like Rin..." She'd liked everyone...

* * *

><p><strong>Doop Doop Doop~<strong>


	39. Standing Offer

**Never Say Never.**

_**Merry Christmas! **_**I didn't get my Christmas update done for TMTR but hey, at least TC's here, right? It wasn't a very productive 72-hour challenge, but I tried.**

**Ummm... I also found a note I'd written to myself here the night before I posted this. I'm a little bit horrified that _I_ _don't think I did what I said I would_ and insert a few scenes about Byakuya's relationship with Jakotsu, so this chapter is probably going to be a bit jarring right at the start when Kagura talks about it. I can only apologize for that here since I for the life of me can't remember what I added to and took out of 38 (and at the time of writing this, I'm just not awake enough to go and re-read the past 4 chapters...).**

**Oops. My bad.**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Standing Offer

"All in favour?"

"Fuck no."

"_Language._"

"_Fucking __**hell**__ no._"

Kagura glared over the kitchen table at her brother and Hakudoshi glared right back. Kanna seemed to be ignoring the discussion with her sketchbook in her lap and Byakuya felt mildly concerned with the topic at hand. They'd never had a family meeting before, they didn't even do game-nights together, so being crowded around the table when there wasn't food being offered was a foreign concept to the four of them- five, counting the infant (toddler) who was just sitting on the wooden surface wondering what was going on.

"Well I vote yes." Kagura announced, leaning on her fists over the table. Hakudoshi refused to bend.

"You know," Byakuya tentatively stated, "Hakudoshi does have a point about-"

"_Dating my best friend._" She could really only use that so many times before- "Who is _his_ best friend and he's _your_ best friend." Erg-

Keeping his relationship a secret from Kagura had been next to impossible. Even if Jakotsu could have been able to keep a secret, expecting his incredibly over-protective brother to do the same thing would be laughable at best. Bankotsu wasn't terrible to have around, but he could be quite harsh about defending his younger sibling.

One date, just one, on Valentine's had turned into another date- more like the first one was black-mail for the second. He hadn't been looking for a new relationship, but somewhere along the way it stopped feeling like a chore, and the anxiety of seeing his sister's best friend's name pop up on his cell slowly went away. Despite himself, Byakuya started looking forward to it.

Explaining this to Hakudoshi had led to the boy giving him a wide berth for a few days, but then the incident with Rin at WacDonalds had happened and made everything better. The problem then had been Hakudoshi snitching to Kagura, who went to Bankotsu and the two had a very long, very dear heart-to-heart.

"Sesshoumaru would be an excellent addition to this household I vote yes." Byakuya lightly smacked his hand on the table, a gesture of his complete and unwavering support. Hakudoshi looked at him like he'd grown moth wings and antennae.

"_Spineless._" Compromise was part of the game, snitch. He still didn't know how Hakudoshi had figured the relationship out to begin with.

"Kanna?" The girl had been ignoring the discussion, her pencil whispering across the page in front of her. Byakuya immediately felt a sense of foreboding: she should have let Kanna vote first, otherwise the girl would probably try to spite him by-

"I like him. He should move in." Oh, well that was unexpected.

"Haha! Three to one!" Triumphant, Kagura pumped her hands in the air and watched the infant raise his arms and give a happy laugh, mimicking her. That made it four to one, Haku really had lost.

"You _do_ realize that you'll never convince him to move in." Watching his half-brother glare through the table like it was the source of all the world's problems, Byakuya calmly brought up the issue of his friend's stubborn personality. As with everything else, Kagura seemed unperturbed. The look she fixed him with was serious though.

"Has he spoken to you recently?" Mm, serious indeed.

"Yes. He came to see his mother and I was privy to the discussion." Byakuya stopped talking after that, and Kagura moved on to harass Hakudoshi. The man just let his eyes drift away from the conflict and note Kanna continuing to scratch away at her sketchbook, then moved along to make sure the infant didn't go tumbling off the table.

His attention slowly slipped out of the current moment...

A business meeting really wasn't how you wanted to find out how your best friend had lost absolutely _everything._ Kagura obviously refused to talk about what had happened to Sesshoumaru with him, but Byakuya didn't even need the confidentiality agreement he'd signed to keep quiet about that afternoon in his boss's office. They both knew Sesshoumaru too well to discuss him like casual gossip.

The meeting in Kimi's office had included Jaken, Sesshoumaru's accountant, the financial records of both Tokijin and Tenseiga, then his own personal funds. They'd gone over the numbers as a group, with Sesshoumaru turning an unusual amount of control over to the rest of them and divulging more information than Bya'd ever heard his friend give in an afternoon.

He'd been consolidating two halves of a whole: Byakuya and Kimi had known about the legal challenges facing Sesshoumaru with his employees and possible law-suits after the fire. Jaken had known all about the financial issues surrounding the club and Sesshoumaru's credit. Only he had known what the entire picture looked like, and to be honest, Bya understood why his friend had kept the problems so close to his heart.

It'd been stupid, putting himself under that sort of stress. But it made sense, given his pride.

Kimi would never admit it, but it had hurt her when she heard her son state that he was giving up on Tokijin. He'd come prepared enough to say that, once the insurance payments were processed, he would be selling the lot on which the building stood. She'd asked several times, probably not even aware of the repetition, what kind of money it would take to restore the club and keep him going, but he'd rejected the idea. Kimi had even asked for the file concerning the Meido account, but Sesshoumaru had made it clear that he intended to sell the licence and naming rights as well. He wanted nothing more to do with Tokijin, ever.

Sesshoumaru had admitted openly that he had no idea what he was going to do to support himself in the long-term, but that he was going back to school with the funds from the Meido account. He wasn't bankrupt, not quite, but he needed time to think and do something else. Something away from Tokijin, away from Tetseiga, and out of the business world.

Maybe he would take Tenseiga when he graduated. Maybe. But he was going back to school with the money his mother had withheld from him. Sesshoumaru had thanked her for that in a voice that could have been sincere if it hadn't been almost broken.

Byakuya had never seen his boss cry before. Kimi was not the sort of woman to break down and give in to her emotions, she was simply too damn good at her job for that. But, once her son and his accountant had left, and Bya had been sent back to his desk with no immediate instructions, she had locked herself in her office for well over an hour. Kimi had taken absolutely no calls and had pushed all of her appointments to tomorrow- no, to next week.

Byakuya was only home in time for this family meeting because Kimi had left before five o'clock today. She'd had her sunglasses on over her eyes, but her cheeks had still been visibly pink under her make-up. She'd told him to leave and that he'd be representing Sesshoumaru's interests until Tokijin was buried: three minor law-suits from people who'd been in Tokijin when the shooting happened and the fires started. By the firm's standards it was idiot stuff: morons who thought they could sue the business for their being in the wrong place at the wrong time. For Byakuya, it was his first solo case load.

"Well I'm not gonna." Huh?

Byakuya gave himself a shake, coming out of his day and reminding himself of where he was: sitting in his spot around their kitchen table, at home, surrounded by his sister and half-siblings. Kagura had her hands on her hips, grinning down on him in a terrible way as Kanna was looking at Bya over her sketchbook, and Hakudoshi had him pegged from the side.

Shit. He'd missed something.

"What?"

"I'm not going to convince Sesshoumaru-" His sister stated, her voice sly and very, very creepy. "-_you _are." Again:

"_What?_"

Fuck. This would not end well.

* * *

><p>They didn't meet in the coffee shop, it was a Saturday and his friend didn't seem keen on going back to the office tower if he didn't have to.<p>

The problem was that Sesshoumaru wasn't keen on _seeing_ anybody today, so when he grumpily opened the door to his basement apartment and saw Byakuya standing there looking miffed, he wasn't sure what to do about it. He let the lawyer speak first.

"Were you on your way out?" No, but Sesshoumaru was fully dressed anyways. "Step outside for a minute." So he did.

The house was a small structure, enough space for the family of three who lived on the second floor over Sesshoumaru's head and himself on his own in their basement. There was a concrete path around the back where the door to his apartment was, then a small sitting-area-meets-garden to one side before the leaning fence marked the end of the property. The dirty plastic patio furniture wasn't Sesshoumaru's, but the two of them sat down anyways in their suits, Byakuya wasn't wearing a tie and Sesshoumaru left his jacket inside. There was an arbour with some vines hanging over their head, obscuring the new spring sunshine and casting patterns over the table and Byakuya's sombre face.

"Is this about the cases?" Bya would be handling the law-suits, Sesshoumaru felt exhausted before he even opened his mouth to ask. The lawyer still looked irritated, but just pursed his lips for a moment and shook his head.

"No, I'm not here about work." They should have gone to the coffee shop, neither of them smoked and there were no cups here to fiddle with and use as distractions, they just had to talk. If it wasn't about work then it was about Kagura? "Sort of."

"Sort of?" What was that supposed to mean?

Byakuya sighed, tilting his head back and staring up at the arbour before he finally settled on what he wanted to say. Sesshoumaru was left with nothing but a few moments to absently look out at the freshly turned garden, the smell of moist soil reaching him even from way over here.

"My sister wants to give you a free ride." He looked back at the lawyer, who was looking at a different corner of the garden.

"Meaning...?" Byakuya's command of the language was stunted some times, he couldn't have meant what that sounded like.

"Meaning she wants you to move in with us." Move in..? "No rent, three square meals, better than staying in some basement all alone by yourself."

"No." Absolutely not, it was ridiculous, it was absurd. He was just supposed to go crawling under his girlfriend's roof and let her support him? He'd never submit to that, he would never allow himself to be so completely _useless_.

"Well, that's what _she_ wants." Bya still wasn't looking at him and Sesshoumaru, oddly, respected him for that. While disgust might not have been the word Kagura's brother still looked put-off by the suggestion. "I think it's stupid, we're a big enough family as it is and taking on extra weight isn't very appealing." Extra weight. That bastard.

"While I _appreciate_your-"

"-But you still shouldn't be in this place." Ah, so he should move anyways? It wasn't as if he had a variety of options, and criticism was not helpful. When Byakuya looked at him there was something curious in his violet eyes, and Sesshoumaru held his tongue. "Do you know what program you're applying to yet?" He wished he hadn't held it.

From a business stand point there was some validity behind the question, especially the brisk tone Bya used to ask it. Sesshoumaru took a few moments to consider, again wishing he had something to occupy his hands, but he let his mind slowly move through his dismal options before he settled on an answer.

"Business management." Similar to what he'd been taking years ago as a student, but not a full degree program this time. Thanks to simple and overwhelming experience he was confident he wouldn't learn a thing in any class-room, but that only meant he'd get through it faster. He didn't want to waste away in school until he was almost thirty. "Two year accreditation, why?"

"How intense? Full time?" This felt more like an interview or check-up than a friendly conversation. Sesshoumaru almost refused to answer, but made himself speak.

"I hadn't decided." He didn't want to be in school for very long, it was degrading to go back and there was a good chance he could take most of his courses without setting foot in a classroom. "Most of it will be distance education." Byakuya was nodding, kicking his feet out a little and crossing them at the ankles, slouching back in his chair with his fingers woven together over his stomach. What was he doing?

"The Meido is set up to provide you with a living allowance if you're a full-time student." That sounded familiar. Sesshoumaru couldn't remember reading it before, but he must have. "Rent, car-payments, groceries, internet..." Internet?

"What are you...?"

"We don't have internet at the house." They didn't? "Not after the photo incident." Mm... He was still surprised Byakuya had kept his job after that. "And another car would help, mine's falling apart." Hakudoshi probably couldn't afford to make insurance payments on a car yet, between insurance and gas his wages probably weren't enough. But where was all of this going? "There's always something else to buy in a house with three kids."

"...Make your point."

"Utilities. You could just call it '_rent'_ when you sign the paper-work with the Meido." Because the bank would check what the money was going to. "Groceries, one quarter." Hmph. "And internet, because I know I would really like having internet again." And if he was working from home, Sesshoumaru would want it too.

Kagura wanted him to move in rent-free, like some sort of refugee. Byakuya wanted him to pay a substantial amount into the household. Sesshoumaru wasn't even sure he liked the idea. Being closer to Kagura was a shining prospect, but it came with numerous strings attached.

"And Hakudoshi...?"

"Would just have to live with it. Just like you'd have to live with a two-year-old in your bedroom." He _what?_ "There's only so much space in that house, Sesshoumaru." _Tch_.

"And Kagura?"

"Doesn't have to know you're paying a dime unless _you'd_ like to argue with her about it." And he would not. But he was also not going to tolerate being branded a free-loader by the little bastard either. "Not my business, just _please_ don't start feuding like you were back in March." He made no promises... There was just one more question:

"Why did she send you?" Because it was obvious he'd been sent, Byakuya didn't look like he'd driven all the way out here on a whim. It had probably taken him a while to find the address anyways, either with Kagura's directions or some scrap of paper left behind in his mother's office. The lawyer took a moment to consider the question, then slowly smiled.

"You two don't talk money, remember?"

Ah, yes. Yes he did.

* * *

><p><strong>Short chapter~<strong>


	40. Through Spring

**Give Me Everything, On the Floor, Under the Sun, The Last One.**

**I totally thought I posted this! I'm so sorry!**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Through Spring

March, April, May. Things moved slowly for three months, but they moved.

* * *

><p>"Please can I tell him?"<p>

"I wish you wouldn't."

"_Please_ can I tell him?"

Bya sighed and sat up a little, still crouched down on the floor with one of his black shoes half done-up between his fingers. He was wearing his suit from the day before: pressed blue wool with a white shirt and black tie on underneath. His calfskin briefcase was resting on the floor next to him, filled with case-work and his laptop. He'd brushed his teeth and washed his face, but he still had to go home for a proper shower.

Jakotsu kept insisting that one of them just buy a bottle of whatever he used so he could use the shower here. Maybe leave a few clean shirts in a drawer?

Kagura knew, Bankotsu knew- speak of the devil he was busying around in the kitchen now, the brothers shared a small flat. Hakudoshi knew, Kanna probably knew but she was scary and Byakuya didn't talking to her about too much of anything, Jakotsu's friends probably also all knew too. Except Sesshoumaru.

"After the suits are settled, _then _I'll tell him." It wasn't telling Sesshoumaru that Byakuya was worried about, his friend tolerated Jakotsu just fine and Bya'd be the first to admit that his pouty boyfriend was a handful... It was his boss he was worried about. Would Sesshoumaru snitch to his mother? It seemed incredibly unlike him, but then again he hadn't expected Hakudoshi to go off and blab to Kagura either. Still, he'd been more concerned with hiding _Jakotsu_ from Kagura, not the fact that he was gay- that was simply a fact she'd come to grips with very quickly.

He knew better than to tell her she got that from their mother: the ability to judge information as important or not based on how directly it impacted her. The sexuality of others fell neatly into the _'not important'_ category.

"You promise?" This was the first time they'd talked about Sesshoumaru, Byakuya finishing up with his shoe and standing up slowly. Jakotsu had his arms folded inside a patterned house-coat- it looked more like a kimono, a soft lilac colour decorated with green leaves. The question gave him a moment's pause, it was awkward being on the receiving end of it for once, but Byakuya knew the right answer even before he smiled.

"Promise." Because his boss would have to figure it out sooner or later, so what was the harm in telling her son? He just had to prove himself with this case-load first, and sealed that promise with a quick kiss before he let himself out of the apartment.

* * *

><p>The fire took place in the third week of March. The meeting at his mother's office was two days later. Sesshoumaru avoided calling Toran until it was almost April, but in the end, his Realtor called <em>him<em>.

"_Oh-my-God!"_ He didn't have his office anymore but Sesshoumaru _did_ have his kitchen table and a stack of paperwork to get through, so functionally nothing had changed. "_What happened! Oh my god! I just drove by looking for you and- OH MY GOD, SESSHOUMARU!"_ He was sorely tempted to turn off the speaker option on his cell, the flip-phone vibrating madly as his realtor's catty voice yowled through the device. She sounded like a broken violin sometimes, one with some poorly abused feline trapped inside the instrument.

"Would you recommend tearing down the structure or leaving it in place?" Since he had her on the line he might as well ask... "I'm not interested in performing any renovations on the property before it goes on the market, which would be more profitable?" Because he was still, as always, concerned with profits.

"_When did this happen!_" Not his question. "_How should I-? Oh nevermind!" _His yellow eyes came up from the insurance papers he was going over, pleased that she interrupted herself in the middle of a stupid question. She was the Realtor, it was her _job_ to know things like that. The line went quiet for a few moments, a good indicator that he'd been put on hold and that Toran was now shrieking at somebody in her office. He didn't particularly care how she came across the information about lot prices and market trends so long as the break-down was accurate.

"_When can we meet? I mean oh my god- oh my god! How could you not tell me? You only have one other commercial property and your father's restaurant hasn't turned a real profit in-"_ A very, very long time, yes. Somehow Tenseiga kept itself afloat despite everything being wrong with it, and Sesshoumaru did not question the will or workings of the universe. _"So where do I meet you? And- wait, where the hell are you living, anyways? You never bought a new place after you sold your condo back in November unless- oh my god! You're cheating on me with another agency aren't you?"_ Foolish woman. At least she wasn't serious, or hysterical anymore now that they'd established that he was not dead.

"I am. I also keep a second accountant and consult with professionals outside the Zangetsuha firm." His tone did not have to drip sarcasm to make his point. Toran knew he'd kept Jaken as his accountant for years and that his mother would shred any legal office he looked to as an alternative. He heard his Realtor scoff into her phone before saying something unexpected:

"_Do you need someplace to stay?" _He almost hung up on her once the question registered. He surprised himself by refraining from that action and for not losing his temper at the remark. In fact, Sesshoumaru didn't even feel affronted. He wasn't touched, but he didn't take it as an insult.

"I'm in the process of negotiations." Moving in with Kagura and her siblings was... an option. It was also one he was beginning to consider more and more. Their townhouse, crowded as it was, had a certain appeal which his one-bedroom basement completely lacked. "I won't be buying again for some time." One year, maybe two? It all depended on the programs offered by all those different schools. He was putting off enrolment like the plague, or bitter medicine, but eventually he would have to take the plunge. Only after he did that would Sesshoumaru commit to better lodgings.

If it were only his girlfriend, his close friend, maybe their little sister and possibly the infant brother then Sesshoumaru probably wouldn't have been so hesitant to commit. It was the teenager that gave him pause. Yes, Sesshoumaru had every right to date Kagura and engage in any number of sexual acts with her, and there was nothing stopping him from having a quick lunch with Byakuya whenever he found himself down in that part of the city or they had business. But moving in was different. Moving in crossed a line.

The house was Hakudoshi's territory. It was a foolish metaphor but it was still applicable. The house and any business with the two younger siblings was Hakudoshi's territory and Sesshoumaru would have to be very careful about getting too close too fast. Byakuya had described the dynamics of the household enough times to make it clear that for just over a year Hakudoshi was _'the man'_ of the house, and Byakuya's presence had not done much to negate this.

It didn't mean he controlled anything or had the authority to command and decide things- no, that power belonged to Kagura. But that didn't change the fact that at almost thirteen Kanna went to her brother first about almost everything, regardless of whether her sister was home or not. It didn't change the fact that the infant- well, the infant liked _everybody,_ but that after Kagura the toddler was still settled more by Hakudoshi than anybody else. And Byakuya relied in the teen to keep Kanna from outright antagonizing him (she was prone to stealing his house keys and then locking him out in the dark).

It was complicated. If Hakudoshi was just an annoying little bastard who didn't like people dating his sister, then closer contact might be a good thing. If the teen perceived Sesshoumaru as an actual _threat_ to his family then things would go from bad to worse very, very quickly. Showing up on the doorstep with his bags and no job would not go far to assuage any concerns the boy might have and Sesshoumaru, really, couldn't argue with that logic. In Hakudoshi's position Sesshoumaru wouldn't trust the boyfriend either.

Being a student would just barely make the grade. Maybe.

"_Come by my office some time this week, Sesshoumaru. Just drop in when you have a chance and I'll clear my schedule."_

"Thursday." It was good of Toran to understand that he didn't want to discuss personal matters. A meeting in her office would keep things brisk and business-like: precisely what he needed.

They hung up but Sesshoumaru was still left thinking. He'd let the phone carry dead air for a few minutes before Toran piped up and ended the call. He didn't mind, they were both busy. He looked back down at the technical jargon in front of him, insurance forms that needed signatures and quotes and verification... his mind wandered.

He picked up the school pamphlets he'd collected, useless things, most of them. He turned on his laptop and scrolled through a number of tabs left open from earlier. Schools, programs, more fine print and estimates, more paper work he'd have to read and pick apart before finally signing. But his mind wandered again. He wouldn't let himself move out of this dingy, ugly, claustrophobic apartment until he was enrolled _somewhere_, until he knew he could bring something more than a trust-fund to wherever he wound up next. The Meido wouldn't pay out until he was confirmed as a student anyways. He wouldn't have anything else to live off of after Tokijin was parcelled up and sold.

Standing, he wandered across his flat to the box that had been pulled together out of the remains of his office, locating the police report right on top and pulling it out. The portfolio submitted by a city engineer was included as well, something he'd have to either fax to Toran's office or take in himself when he went on Thursday. Pulling out the photos, Sesshoumaru let his untrained eyes look over the charred beams and gutted interior. Some of the exterior walls had collapsed too. It was a mess.

Probably better to just tear it down.

Demolition could be expensive... the labour costs were... wait, wasn't it _all_ labour?

His mind kept wandering as he found himself back in front of his computer. After a few moments, his fingers started typing.

And he kept thinking.

* * *

><p>April itself was very interesting...<p>

* * *

><p>This was a stupid idea. Sesshoumaru knew it even before he resolved to check it out. It was a stupid idea, it was ridiculous, it was absolutely-<p>

Fuck it.

He met with Toran and together they went to Tokijin's remains with a building inspector. The three of them agreed that the structure was stable and didn't have to come down, but everything inside absolutely had to come out. One or two beams would have to be replaced, but that would be much cheaper than ripping the entire structure to the ground.

They contacted the city and the water was shut off, an electrician came in and made sure that all of the remaining power lines were dead and there wasn't a single spark of electricity left to be had. Gas valves were shut all the way along the line until they wound up at the city main and had no business moving any further. All that was left was to bring in a demolition crew.

And this was where the stupid idea set in.

"What's with that look on your face?" Mid-April, Friday night a week after the last inspection at Tokijin. The air was warm even without the sun, the rain had coming and going during the day but was gone now as he walked with Kagura to her door. Always home by eleven, or almost always, tonight they'd come back to her place early.

"...?" What look?

They didn't talk about him moving in, but she did invite him in for coffee every now and then. It was an excuse to see the toddler, to make contact with the sister, to be glared at from the top of the stares by the little bastard.

"That really pissy look you've got on, it's the same one you get whenever you think about your brother's wedding." _Half-_brother. He didn't want to think about the looming nuptials, but that wasn't the problem. Kagura was standing in front of him with her hand on the doorknob. He'd already agreed to come inside and she had an expectant look on her face, her lipstick freshly re-applied over her lips and at the same time successfully removed from his after her very coy invitation.

He huffed a little. Out with it.

"If your brother's home, I'd like to speak with him." She gave him a curious look.

"Well, Bya's car is right there so I guess-"

"Not that brother." She stared at him, Sesshoumaru stared back. She quickly looked away, trying not to laugh, and he tossed a glare in her direction, her grin poorly hidden behind one hand as she pushed the door open.

"Haku! Get down here!" Kagura was still tittering as they stepped inside, Kanna materializing at the bottom of the stairs as soon as she heard the latch click. She made eye-contact directly, Sesshoumaru acknowledging her with a nod.

The girl rarely smiled, but her hands were smudged with charcoal dust from her art projects and she wordlessly passed from the stairs into the kitchen. She knew he preferred tea over coffee, and she knew which kind of tea he liked despite Sesshoumaru never telling her, _and_ she always served him from the same cup. He'd never understand what it was about him that appealed to younger sisters, but after Karan, Rin and Kanna he knew not to question it.

"_Haku!_" Sesshoumaru kept his jacket and shoes on, his working hand resting in his pocket as he remained by the door, drifting forward only after Kagura hung up her own coat and kicked her shoes onto the little mat next to him. He followed her only until he came to the edge of the carpet, fully conscious of the fact that he could be ejected from the household at any moment if the next few minutes went poorly.

A door opened and Sesshoumaru almost thought he could _smell_ the resentment come flowing downstairs, a thick miasma that no one else in the house seemed to sense as a small exchange took place in the kitchen.

"Kanna, did you see the mug I set down over-?"

"That is Sesshoumaru-sama's cup."

"Uh, but I-"

"That is Sesshoumaru-sama's cup." Byakuya knew better than to argue.

"...Fair enough. But- Kanna, I just made that, it-" There was a sound of a lot of something being poured down the drain.

"Sesshoumaru-sama does not like green tea."

Kagura had vanished up the stairs to find her half-brother, leaving a crestfallen Byakuya to exit the kitchen in disgrace and greet Sesshoumaru. The lawyer's face looked slightly strained, the stress of being out-done by a twelve-but-almost-thirteen-year-old weighing heavily on his nerves. He was smiling his tired smile, the one Sesshoumaru had seen him give his mother the one or two times she had followed him to the cafe to demand an explanation for something or other on her assistant's break.

"Long day?" Byakuya looked like he was going to strangle him.

"You couldn't have called ahead? A two-minute warning so I could move a little faster?" Ah, but then Kanna would have simply gone into his room, liberated the cup from Byakuya's grasp and proceeded to pour the tea out from both vessels. "If I'd known you were coming I would have picked a different one." Well then he had only himself to blame for it being taken away. "You're an ass..."

"But I get service." The lawyer was giving him the evil eye.

"What the hell do you want?" A new voice cut in before the conversation could go any further, or Byakuya could attempt some sort of barbed reply. Sesshoumaru's mood fell but he hid his disappointment, turning to look at the hateful creature standing in front of him. Kagura was still smothering laughter behind her hand, thoroughly amused with the situation while Byakuya adopted a look of vague paranoia at Sesshoumaru's side.

The teen wasn't wearing his Datsuki uniform. He'd been home long enough to change into a more casual outfit including a black hooded sweatshirt with the Thunder Brothers' logo on the front. His hands were stuffed in the front pocket, the hood up over his white hair, and a look of outright disdain tainting his violet eyes and giving him an arrogant posture. Sesshoumaru wanted to smack him. He resisted.

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

"None of your god-damned busine-"

"-It is if you're ready to grow up." That shut the boy up. It also confused his sister and put a stop to whatever Kanna was doing in the kitchen. The two of them had only spoken directly what two- three times? He forced the issue now and the boy's family was here to watch. "I have a job to get done and workers lined up, but if you're too childish to take my money for your time then go back upstairs and let me get on with my evening."

It was... the worst job offer he'd ever made to anyone but Sesshoumaru spoke before he thought. There were better, more calculated ways of saying _'I'll pay you to bash some walls down'_ but the moment had passed. It was more like a glove than an olive branch but it was something he put between them and waited for the boy's reaction. Kagura had stopped laughing and Hakudoshi, at least, was thinking.

Thinking was better than lunging at him.

"...How much time?"

"Have you ever used a sledge hammer?"

No, but when Sesshoumaru tossed thirty yen an hour_ on top of_ his usual wage at WacDonalds, Hakudoshi seemed willing to try.

* * *

><p>Why pay someone for what you can do yourself?<p>

Why hire professionals to do an amateur job?

Sesshoumaru still agreed with his reasoning behind the first question: don't. But felt differently about the second: you hire professionals because young people are little shits.

Toran's office had employed Inuyasha's friend Miroku before the lech went off to be a consultant for Tetseiga, but the two had a good working relationship and word of good money for grunt labour got around fast between friends. Miroku dropped his brother-in-law Kohaku off outside Tetseiga at ten in the morning, and after a brief conversation Sesshoumaru discovered that Miroku was not immune to the charms of aggressive demolition. The consultant was not _paid_ for his time, but once he got on a mask and some goggles the man didn't seem to care.

Toran's brother Shuran was a drop-out and a menace, but he was big and he needed money, and Sesshoumaru suspected his sister was using this as a ploy to patch things up with the disgruntled teen. Toran's other siblings Shunran and Karan also showed up, complying with his demand that they wear the ugly goggles and the stuffy mask or else he wasn't going to pay them. And gloves. Yes they were ugly, no Sesshoumaru did not care.

Miroku had told Renkotsu in idle conversation, who had told Bankotsu, who was dragged by Jakotsu. Sesshoumaru almost kicked them all off the site until they charmed him with several boxes of pizza for the students and some insightful details about his half-brother's wedding woes.

Hakudoshi arrived at ten-thirty, right after Bankotsu agreed that at twelve he would head off to grab lunch for everyone.

It was _not_ heavy demolition, they were not tearing the structure down from the top to the basement. They were taking down the drywall and the glass and the hanging walls, they were pulling out the seating and the bar, the shelving and piping, the dead wiring and the remains of the chain-link fencing. The building had to be cleaned out and swept up before it could go on the market, and in order to do the structural work the professional crew would need a clear work space. Sesshoumaru would provide that, and for a lot less than he would otherwise have to pay.

For a few hours it worked out well, Hakudoshi, Kohaku and Miroku went into the kitchen and bar area, working mostly behind the scenes ripping out the dead appliances. Tokijin's kitchen had been an addition, a hanging wall lopping off a corner of the original floor plan, and Sesshoumaru instructed them to punch through the wall that had once been the back of the bar. The smoke-stained bathrooms went too, including the gross flooring that had never been replaced and which had begun to peel after the water from the fire trucks doused it.

Toran's siblings worked upstairs, a roped off area that had once been the dance-floor designated as a landing place for everything they chucked and heaved out the old office window. The men rotated duties, except for Renkotsu who worked in the generator room with an engineer to establish what had to come out and what could be left for the new buyer to work with.

So it all went very well, until Bankotsu came in with the pizzas, and Sesshoumaru's dirty, sweaty, good-humoured crew took off their masks and got a good look at one another.

Kohaku knew Hakudoshi, they'd been working together and got on very well. But Hakudoshi also knew Karan, who stared at him and went silent for the first time all morning. Shunran didn't know anyone except her brother and sister and whined incessantly about her long red hair being twisted in a tangle. The Devas boy was another story.

Hakudoshi said something, or Karan said something, or somebody else did_ something_, and before Sesshoumaru understood what was going on his realtor's thuggish younger brother had thrown himself at _Kagura's_ younger brother and everyone was yelling. Thankfully there were enough people there to keep the two boys from killing each other, but not before Hakudoshi earned himself a black eye and Shuran took an elbow to the jaw. At least the smaller boy knew how to fight.

Shuran was big, and he was heavy, and he was a fighter. It took both Renkotsu and Bankotsu together holding the boy by his arms and shoulders to restrain him, the three marching out the building door to have a talk and send the ruffian home. The girls followed, as did Sesshoumaru, who wound up trying to understand why Karan was suddenly in tears once they got outside.

He sent all three home without paying them- he assured Shunran that he'd give the money to their sister, and the auburn-haired girl guided her weeping sister on to the bus to take them home. Sesshoumaru refused to hit Toran's lippy brother when he started running his mouth at him, but it was a near thing and the teen had a dangerous look to him as he stalked off down the street. But if he could hold off on taking a swing at Hakudoshi after all their bickering then he could handle Shuran until the boy was out of sight.

"What the hell set _that_ off?" Renkotsu retied the red bandana over his bald head as he asked the question, Sesshoumaru not answering at first but deciding he was going to find out. Just not right now. He went back inside and was surprised when he found Hakudoshi sitting back in his spot on the floor, talking loudly at Kohaku and drinking a can of soda.

"I dunno what the fuck his problem is, he's nothing but a god-damn-"

"Does your sister know you talk like that?" Not that Hakudoshi was being especially violent with his language, not compared to what he'd just had to deal with, but Sesshoumaru was still surprised when the boy just looked at him without leaping to his feet and screaming. He'd expected Hakudoshi to be storming out that door as soon as the fight was done, blaming him for hiring his supposedly mortal enemy.

Maybe the boy understood that if Sesshoumaru wanted him dead he'd do the work himself.

"I know she'll give you _shit_ for bringing him here." This boy was surprisingly well connected. Kanna would have to be careful if Hitomiko Middle School attracted such a diverse crowd of students. Still, for what it was worth Hakudoshi's temper seemed under control even if his language was not. The combination of physical work and a surprise attack seemed to have eaten up most of his aggression. Sesshoumaru could handle the attitude it left behind.

"Are you two staying?" Kohaku looked wide-eyed but not all together unnerved about continuing the job. Hakudoshi just gave him a nasty look and took another gulp of his soda.

"We're not even half-finished yet." No they weren't, but the upper floor had already been cleared out and most of the debris from the kitchen just needed to go out to the waiting dumpster. "You still gonna pay us?" It would just be him and Kohaku getting paid now, Bankotsu made pretty eyes at him but Sesshoumaru refused to open his wallet.

He did, however, pick up a sledge hammer.

* * *

><p>And in May?<p>

* * *

><p>"You finally chose one?" Most Japanese institutes opened their doors in April for new students, Sesshoumaru selected a smaller, private one as an excuse to avoid the mandated schedule. He would be studying online most of the time and therefore rarely expected to drive out to wherever the campus was unless it was for an exam of some kind.<p>

He told Kagura in May, holding off on giving his landlord his notice of departure. Sesshoumaru was not willing to rush into any thing: there would be no point leaving his apartment behind if he didn't know where he was going next. He also had to finish getting Tokijin off his hands, just to finish with the loose ends.

He told Kagura but technically he was telling Byakuya at the same time, and Kanna was in the living room behind him. Hakudoshi was out somewhere, it was another Saturday. Sesshoumaru sipped from the tea Kanna had prepared for him and Kagura was grinning at his side, Byakuya's hands in his jacket pockets as he leaned back on one wall and smiled.

"_And?_" The lawyer wasn't interested in going back over his educational plans. The two of them had talked money a few more times since that meeting in March: Byakuya knew the insurance money from the fire had come through, and he was aware that Tokijin's lot had been generating some interest on the market. He'd have it off his hands before June. The Meido account had been unlocked and more numbers from Byakuya had loosened the cash-flow into Sesshoumaru's accounts. His debts were slowly being taken care of.

"This place is quite small." So he had a clean financial slate, no red or black ink to bother with or cause difficulties. He drank more of the chamomile and inhaled the sweet scent, preferring it over the bitter stink of the coffee he usually downed to keep himself awake. The herb usually put him to sleep, it was relaxing. "For six people." Kagura, Kanna, Hakudoshi and the infant, Byakuya and Sesshoumaru. Yes, this place would be quite small.

"You really mean it?" He didn't answer Kagura's question, setting his cup down as he felt her arms wrap around his neck from the side and she nuzzled her face close up against him, purring and giggling and making happy sounds as she kissed his cheek and bounced a little to show how excited she was.

"We'll figure something out." Byakuya gave a grin and extended a hand out to him, which Sesshoumaru shook before trying to pry his girlfriend off his shoulder. Kagura was having none of it, not until he surrendered a chaste kiss to her and then found Kanna standing next to his chair, her black eyes looking up at the three adults curiously.

"Sesshoumaru-sama is moving in?" She had a very quiet voice, Kanna. Her words were soft but she used them more often around him after several weeks of closer contact. Kagura was stroking his jaw with her thumb and Sesshoumaru was doing his best to ignore it, looking at the young teen in front of him and nodding his head. Kanna was in middle school now, she'd only started a few weeks ago, but it was still enough of a change to warrant her involvement in more household decisions. Otherwise, Sesshoumaru wouldn't have asked:

"Is that a problem?"

Kanna was silent for a moment, looking more at Kagura than at him before she made eye contact again, briefly this time.

"No." She then lowered her platinum head a little, and Sesshoumaru thought he saw the girl smile.

* * *

><p><strong>Woooo~! I don't know why this story is so long, but I'm very happy about where we are as of next chapter. Unfortunately, since I posted 39 a few months ago I still haven't finished 42. 41 is a good place to stop though so I'll post that up sometime next week.<strong>

**If you've been reading along, be sure to place this in your alerts! I don't intend to drop Taking Care, I'm just dealing with school and some other projects in the meantime. Ciao!**


	41. Two Years Pt 1

**To The Sky, whole playlist.**

**Originally this chapter was supposed to be a skip through two years from chapter 40. Unfortunately, it got really really full and there were lots of little things I wanted to have happen, so it just takes them to December of Year 2, so next chapter deal with getting through year three.**

**I swear to God I'm not going through all seven years at 20 chapters a piece XD**

* * *

><p><em><strong>Taking Care<strong>_

Two Years: Pt. 1

In cards, specifically poker, the best hand you can get is a Royal Flush. Five cards in order, same suit, from Ace to ten. Kagura's house is a Royal Flush.

Their suit is Naraku: the parent they all share. Kagura is the Ace, because she does the most work and yet still somehow winds up on the short end of things sometimes. Hakudoshi is the King, completely useless without either of his sisters around. Kanna is the Queen, because the King and the Jack are both in awe and a little afraid of her. Byakuya is the Jack, unless Kanna's counting in which case he's probably just a four. The infant is the ten, because without him all you have is four dysfunctional half-siblings.

Sesshoumaru understands that he breaks this metaphor, because if you have six cards in poker then either you're cheating or the dealer is an idiot.

* * *

><p><em>June and July...<em>

Three adults, three children, four bedrooms, two bathrooms. The circumstances are not ideal.

Kanna watched Sesshoumaru-sama use his car as a peace offering to Hakudoshi. He needed one once her brother realized that Kagura's boyfriend had no intention of sleeping on their couch when the bed he brought from his old apartment was sized for two and fit inside Kagura's room. Together, she watched them go out for practice and knows he let the Hakudoshi drive the car, giving instruction and advice.

Usually they came back both giving Byakuya dirty looks. Sesshoumaru-sama said Kagura's brother was a bad teacher because Hakudoshi had bad driving habits.

Kanna remembers the day Sesshoumaru-sama gave Hakudoshi his own key to the sedan. She also remembers the good half-minute it took for Kagura's boyfriend to let go of the key while trying to hand it over. Lightning had sparked between the two, angry and black, but he finally relented.

Two weeks later Hakudoshi wrapped the car around a telephone poll.

Sesshoumaru-sama didn't get mad about the car, he got mad because Hakudoshi didn't come back until the next day. His friend Kohaku had been in the car when it happened, the two boys showing up just as Kagura started crying again about her brother not answering his phone. There was only shouting until Kagura calmed down, and then Hakudoshi and Sesshoumaru-sama had a long, quiet talk outside.

They stopped fighting after that. Kanna likes the quiet. Her brother and Kagura's boyfriend bought another car a few days later, it's an ugly shape but Kanna likes the red paint, it's also much quieter and smells better than Byakuya's car. Every month she sees Hakudoshi give Sesshoumaru-sama a cheque to help pay for the insurance, and they both use the car.

But it's still three adults and three children sleeping in four bedrooms with only two bathrooms. There are still problems.

_August and September..._

Actually there's really only one problem as far as Kagura's concerned: the infant. He isn't an infant anymore, he's almost two. He still sleeps in his crib, one that's much larger than the bassinet he used months and months ago, but he's active, he has his own schedule, and he has stuff. He has stuff that her tiny dresser doesn't have space for, especially not after they bought a standing closet for Sesshoumaru's clothes to go in and she rearranged her drawers so he had a place for the stuff he didn't need to hang up.

Her once sparse room has started to feel claustrophobic with just one little window, a big crib, a big-enough bed, two standing closets and one dresser. And how come all the random shit they don't have space for always winds up on _her _bedroom floor? If Kagura has to step over Hakudoshi's old middle school books_ one more time_ she-

"Good morning..."

"Mm... morning." She either has to move her boyfriend or her baby brother out of her room, that's the end of it. As a deeply selfish person Kagura has also decided that baby had to go, because she likes Sesshoumaru's good mornings far too much to kick him out. Her bed is always warm when she wakes up, the sheets smell like him, and he always touches his lips to the back of her neck a few times until she rolls over to look at him, both of them smothered in blankets. He's so affectionate when he wakes up: she just loves it.

So the infant has to go, it's that simple. He's cute and she loves him and _blah blah blah_, but she likes being able to wrap her legs around her boyfriend too, and Sesshoumaru won't let her do that if he looks up and sees two beady violet eyes staring at him through the bars of the crib. And even when he isn't looking-

"Shh, he's sleeping-"

_"It tickles-!"_

"_Maaaa?"_

He still has ears like a fucking _bat._

* * *

><p>"You take him."<p>

"There's no room!" Liar, Byakuya. He's always getting better at it, but Sesshoumaru knows who he's learning from and Bya is a damned _liar_ about their spacing issue.

"You have the master suite." But he lets Kagura carry the argument in the living room, glancing up from his laptop every few seconds while pretending to read an article on taxation and subsidies. He's read all this before, the argument is more pertinent to his interests.

"And it's full." Yes, Bya's room is full. There are boxes and boxes of legal text books scattered all over the floor, his little desk over-burdened with case-work and files and little paper cranes that make it feel like you're walking on egg-shells whenever someone opens the door to look for him. "I know he sleeps through the night, I'm not worried about him keeping me up, there's just no-" Idiot.

"Then build shelves."

"Ha?"

It's not a foolish suggestion and Sesshoumaru doesn't know why everyone's so surprised when he makes it. It's just himself, Kagura and Byakuya sitting around the dining room table. The lawyer is part-way through trying to eat his cold dinner, Kagura is standing over him with her hands on her hips, and Sesshoumaru is studying. It's late, but not too late for them to have this discussion. Hakudoshi's sitting on the couch ignoring them while a movie plays in the background. Kanna has her sketchbook out and was admonishing the infant for trying to touch her charcoal, now she's looking at them instead.

Byakuya is looking at him curiously, Kagura just shrugs and looked back at her brother.

"They're a bit expensive, but we _were_ planning on it-" Sesshoumaru interrupts again.

"I didn't say buy, I said build." Manufactured furniture is always far more expensive than anything you build yourself. A few brackets and some wood is a cheap solution. "Get Hakudoshi to do it."

"What?" This gets the teen's attention, the moving images on the screen seizing up as he hits pause and sits up, giving them a weird look from across the room. Sesshoumaru tries not to roll his eyes before addressing the half-brother.

"You're taking carpentry, aren't you?"

"Beginners..." Shelving is a beginner's task. All you need is a level, a screw-driver, some- "We don't have any of those." Yes they do. "Uh, no, we don't." Insolent brat.

Sesshoumaru lets out a terse breath and then stands up, walking off to the bedroom he and Kagura share. He had tried to pack as lightly as possible when he moved in but most of his belongings are still in boxes in the corner because there's no storage in this little house. Kneeling down, he reaches under the bed with his good arm, fumbling around before- there it is.

A good-sized toolbox, not very big, but not too small either, comes sliding out from under the bed. It has paint smears and dents all along its grey exterior, bits of saw-dust engrained in the joints. He sold his power tools just before he sold the apartment, but the ones in the box are necessities. Pliers, wire cutters, screw drivers, a hammer, crowbar, level, etc.. He brings the case back out and deposits it on the kitchen table, getting Hakudoshi to come over and look over what's inside as he opens it. Kagura doesn't care about the tools and isn't looking at them, she's looking at _him_.

"I didn't know you were handy..." He doesn't appreciate the pun. "It's not a pun! I knew you liked cars but I never thought..." Machinery is powerful and complicated, building and repairing things is fundamental and engaging.

"What kind of shelves?" Hakudoshi was just looking, but now he's touching. He checks the weight of the hammer in his palm, runs his thumb over the notches in the crow-bar as if trying to guess what on earth Sesshoumaru did with it to abuse the steel like that. There are other spare tools tossed inside as well, handfuls of screws and nails, old paintbrushes, electrical tape. Two wrenches and only once vice- Sesshoumaru isn't sure where the other one's gone but they aren't hard to replace.

"For now, simple L-brackets."

"Particle board?" Probably, unless Byakuya wants to foot the bill for authentic wood? The lawyer puts his hands up quickly.

"I have nothing to do with this, this is _your_ bonding project." Hmph. This is not bonding.

But by the end of the weekend Byakuya has shelves, and the infant is relocated to the upstairs bedroom.

Sesshoumaru rejoiced in the fact that his girlfriend was not a screamer, because that would have made their celebration very awkward for everyone else.

* * *

><p><em>October and November...<em>

As someone who is almost never at home, Byakuya understands very, very clearly who the house revolves around. He knows who fixes his meals, cleans his bathroom, folds his shirts, and bathes the infant. And he understands that it's the same person who vacuums, sweeps, mops, dusts, and then sits down to balance the money at the end of the month.

Byakuya, um, he buys the groceries. And he brings home money. He's a good cook and he handles that on the weekends, but he just can't do it during the week, he has no time.

He's tried picking up the other chores but Kagura just shoos him away from the vacuum cleaner, or asks what he's doing with the laundry. He works worse hours than she does, the kids have school and homework to deal with that she doesn't, and Byakuya has case-work to bring home and stew over on most evenings too, so all three of them get a painfully free ride on Kagura's back.

It's embarrassing but, thankfully, he isn't the only one who feels this way.

Because Byakuya also know who fixed the bathroom sink when the faucet decided to explode and sent Kanna downstairs screaming. And he knows who built his home office: it's the same person who pronounced his rust-bucket dead when one hot August morning it coughed its last and died in the office parking lot. Still, for Sesshoumaru there's still the fact that he's really just telling Hakudoshi what to do most of the time rather than doing it himself (most handy things just went so much faster when you have _two_ hands), and how often do pilot lights really go out?

Sesshoumaru still has the upper hand here though. He contributes financially like Byakuya, and he's a student like Hakudoshi and Kanna, but he's home almost _all_ day almost _every_ day. Including the hours that Kagura is at work.

If Sesshoumaru didn't start finding stuff to fill his hours, Byakuya would have begun worrying over his friend's sanity. Sesshoumaru played house-guest for all of about two weeks after he moved in back in June, watching and observing the family's comings and goings while Hakudoshi and Kanna were on summer break, but ever since school set back in, stuff's started happening.

Like vacuuming.

And dusting.

And toilet scrubbing.

That last one still hurts Byakuya in the head a little though. The idea of Sesshoumaru pushing a vacuum or dusting shelves feels like a bad joke, but imagining him wielding a little plastic toilet brush is just a whole other level of wrong.

Thankfully, none of them have ever seen it happen. Kagura is always at practice, Byakuya is at work, and the kids are in school. It took Kagura a good two months before she finally seemed to understand that it wasn't any of them putting in the extra work, and if she figured it out before then, then she'd masked it well enough that Byakuya couldn't tell the difference. It was hard not to notice vacuum lines or clean counters, and the only thing Sesshoumaru refuses to do is fold laundry.

Oh, he'll sort it and wash it and dry it, he just won't fold it afterwards. He refuses to touch Kanna's underwear, or Hakudoshi's socks, or iron Byakuya's shirts, and even if he might have been alright with taking care of his and Kagura's wardrobe Sesshoumaru has since confided that he simply isn't OCD enough to pick through the finished loads.

"I'm just amazed you do it to begin with." Sesshoumaru had lived on his own since he'd left school, of course he knows basic housekeeping. "Yeah, but I mean-"

"I know what you meant." Oh, well, keep up the good work then.

One thing Sesshoumaru doesn't have experience with, and which he's obviously unsure about when he asks, is child care. They're having coffee in the building cafe when the question comes up, Sesshoumaru's face like a ceramic mask and his shoulders set like ice-blocks. They're celebrating Byakuya's success at negotiating a settlement with Sesshoumaru's would-be persecutors after the fire: in exchange for dropping their charges, all three plaintiffs will avoid being counter-sued for a slew of other charges. Drug use and slander are common across the board.

It's September, Bya isn't sure when Kagura and Sesshoumaru's anniversary is supposed to be, but he isn't about to ask either.

"...How much does you spend on daycare?" Byakuya almost chokes.

"..._What?_"

"For the infant." It was a rhetorical _'what?',_ Byakuya knows what he meant. "How much?" Uuugh, that number isn't on hand right now, but the lawyer shuts his eyes and massages his temples, trying to think.

"It's... however much she gets from the government for him, I can't remember the number." That much? "Yes that much, I just said that." Sesshoumaru goes back to staring at the faux-granite table between them, then turns his eyes out through the window, arms folded. Byakuya watches the white light play off the yellow in his eyes, abruptly reminded of something but holding on to it for a moment. So he asks:

"...You're that bored?" Sesshoumaru stiffens.

"There is always one adult in that house at all times, it only makes sense to-"

"-You're _that_ bored?" Sesshoumaru doesn't answer him. Instead he glares out the window at the Tokyo skyline.

Huh. He's _that_ bored sitting around the house... Interesting. Bya leans back in his chair, cup in hand as he takes a sip before changing the subject: child-care is Kagura's domain.

"By the way, I've been seeing Jakotsu."

* * *

><p><em>December 8th...<em>

The two year anniversary arrives without much celebration, but also not much dread. The four of them are going to the graveyard and leaving Byakuya and Sesshoumaru at home. He isn't sure how much either men know about today but they must know something, because he's caught Kagura and Byakuya whispering to each other several times this week and Kikyo's anniversary is the only explanation.

Kagura's boyfriend doesn't argue, he has his own set of school finals coming up and has been spending countless hours reading text books and examining his laptop. Byakuya hasn't asked a single _direct_ question, and is just helping pack up the food while Sesshoumaru calls the toddler over to him, ending Kanna's wild chase around the house to get their brother's boots and coat on.

Sesshoumaru is the only one who can do that: use one single verbal command and get the toddler to obey. And Naraku never glares or gets grumpy about being called either, he just handles it the same way he does everything else: with a gleeful smile on his face and dancing footsteps as he charges over and wraps his small arms around the sling hanging off the older man. He only stopped going to the day-care about two months ago, but Kagura's boyfriend has figured out _some_ kind of system that keeps the toddler disturbingly happy.

Haku's guess is drugs. Drugs or mind control.

He just watches every time his brother climbs up onto Sesshoumaru's lap. It's weird. The child gets absolutely no affection back for his efforts as he tugs himself under the man's lame arm like he's getting a hug, but it doesn't seem to bother either of them. Naraku sticks his feet out for Kanna to tug on his little boots, playing with the straps of the sling around him as he waits for her to finish. _'Waits'_ being a misnomer: the child can hardly sit still and keeps gabbing up at the stoic man holding him.

Because he chatters. And he talks. And he babbles _constantly._ He's two, it isn't strings of nonsense anymore: it's partial sentences and complete thoughts. Haku doesn't know how Sesshoumaru handles it all day, the man hardly ever talks and yet Naraku never _shuts up._

"Blue boots!" Sesshoumaru's trying to read something on his laptop, but looks down as the toddler sticks up his toe and points at it. "It's blue!"

"It is." Haku stands with his hands in his pockets, all dressed up in black like Kanna in her skirt and stockings. He watches and fiddles with the car keys so they make a soft chinking sound, Kagura's voice drifting in from outside where she's laughing with Byakuya over something. He isn't mad at the slow pace of things, he's just watching.

Two years.

Kanna finishes what she's doing and then just stays kneeling down on the carpet, waiting for the toddler to wiggle free of the artificial hold. Sesshoumaru's attention has drifted away again, or so it seems, but when it becomes clear that the child doesn't want to get off the man glances down at the lilac head bumping back against his chest and starts to stand up.

_'That kid laughs at everything.'_ Trying not to smile at the sound of the shrill laughter, Hakudoshi watches his brother's arms lock tight around the one holding him, his body doubled over Sesshoumaru's arm as he simply hangs on and trusts the sling not to drop him to the floor. Kanna shakes her head and then reaches out to take their brother, Sesshoumaru moving enough of his arm that she can take the giggling toddler without much fuss.

"Car time." She says quietly, nodding to Kagura's boyfriend as the toddler is set back on his feet, their sister giving him a nudge towards the door. He's too heavy to be carried around everywhere anymore.

"Red car!" Yep, red car. As Kanna and Naraku pass, Haku pauses for a moment, finding himself staring at Kagura's boyfriend and Sesshoumaru staring right back. Uuh...

"See ya." The words are awkward.

The man just gives him a curious look, then a quiet nod, and drifts back to his laptop.

Haku drives his family to the graveyard.

* * *

><p><strong>Totally time to bring in the Infant's name. There's just no way I can have them keep calling him the infant when he's a toddler, and he's walking, and he's talking (although the canon infant also talked a lot too, bwahaha).<strong>

**I know that the descriptions in this story have been slipping, but I'm a little more interested in getting through content than smearing everything with physical accounts. I've described these guys, you know what they look like.**

**I currently have no idea when I'll be able to finish and post chapter 42. I think it's half-done but I honestly haven't checked it out in a few weeks. I'm not dropping TC, I just have some other projects I've been working on for the time being.**

**Thanks so much for all your great reviews! I'll see you guys again once I get the Hetalia Fandom out of my system!**


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